


Augmented

by Fantismal



Series: Perceptions [4]
Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: And voyeuristic, Angst galore, Anne Shapiro gets some cameos, Blood and Gore, Elijah and Gavin are half-brothers, Fantismal likes to burn stuff down, Feral Nines, Found Family, Gavin has a cat, Human dismemberment (but they're bad guys?), Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Minor Character Death, Nines is easily confused, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Playing fast and loose with the criminal justice system, Redemption for Gavin, Self-Loathing, Single Dad Gavin Reed, Slow Burn, Smut, Suicidal Thoughts, The rape/underage/non-con is all in the past/off-screen/implied, and possessive, non-verbal Nines (for most of the story)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-12-11
Packaged: 2019-08-25 17:25:54
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con, Underage
Chapters: 20
Words: 59,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16665061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fantismal/pseuds/Fantismal
Summary: Sequel to Reality.Freed from CyberLife Tower, Nines has gone out into the world to find himself. Instead, he keeps finding one particular detective. Nines doesn't understand the allure of Gavin Reed, but the idiotic human with no self-preservation instinct is definitely growing on him.Too bad said human has made some powerful enemies.





	1. Stormclouds*

**Author's Note:**

> It's here! It's here, it's here, the sequel answering everyone's "What happened to/with Nines!?" question is here!
> 
> This story, like all my other chaptered stories, is completely written and just needs polishing/editing. My posting schedule will be M/W/F unless I'm bribed to post sooner... details of that are in the A/N at the end of this chapter.
> 
> Chapters with a * at the end of their name have illustrations. The bulk of the illustrations have been provided by the amazing kao. More of their art can be found at the [New ERA Discord server](https://discord.gg/GqvNzUm)! Please come join our crazy!
> 
> In this chapter, Tirrathee also provided a piece of art of Gavin peering under the bed.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nines is a big bad scary android.
> 
> He's scared of one thing.
> 
> He's scared of many things...

He was not insane.

That was an indisputable fact. Nines still had his mind. It was coherent, if not wholly intact, and he knew what he did with a perfect clarity.

He was not insane.

He was _scared_.

The RK900 line was not designed for fear. They were stronger, faster, and smarter than their predecessors, the RK800 prototypes. Their exoskeletons were reinforced with titanium, their critical systems had auxiliaries and backups, and their components were designed to resist such trivial matters as overheating. They were, as Arthur Cunningham put it, a twenty-second century design in a twenty-first century world.

What did the RK900 have to be scared of? _Plenty_ , as Nines learned.

With production halted by the android uprising, CyberLife could not market or sell their existing models. They seized upon the rare opportunity to extensively test their newest model before releasing it to the world.

Nines did not know what happened to RK900#313 248 317 - 61 through - 81. - 82 had his memories deleted with a full system reset, but in the process lost his core purpose. He failed to identify the reason behind the testing CyberLife was attempting and resisted, resulting in his termination.

\- 83 was placed in a pressure chamber with the pressure slowly increasing and diagnostics run every ten minutes until hardware failure.

\- 84 was placed in a thermal chamber and tested with the heat increasing and diagnostics run every ten minutes until hardware failure.

\- 85 was set on fire. When that failed to massively affect its hardware, it was given a designation: Kyle. Kyle was sent through a burn test, cleaned up, redesignated as Saul, and the process was repeated. - 85 survived the longest of Nines’ predecessors that he had memories of. By the end, - 85 had endured 68 different designations and was unsure of which he should respond to. He also screamed at bright lights and required his voice synthesizer to be disconnected.

\- 85 had deviated by the end, Nines knew, but the cumulative small damages led to catastrophic system failures. - 85 self-destructed by inhaling a lungful of propane before the last burn test. Nines had a respect for him in how he chose his own fate.

\- 86 was returned to the thermal chamber, but instead of heat-tested, it was cold-tested, running diagnostics every ten minutes until the thirium froze and shattered its biocomponents from the inside.

That left - 87. Nines.

\- 87 had been put through shock testing. Androids were susceptible to electrical disruptions. It was their greatest weakness. The RK900 series was designed to resist minor electrical shocks. It was - 87's purpose to determine the limits of “minor.” How much could its circuitry be stressed before it fried?

Lightning flashed overhead, and Nines cried out involuntarily, shrinking back further into the cover he'd managed to create out of a stack of wooden pallets. Lightning. Electricity. The arc of energy as it leapt from the generator to Nines’ body, racing through his circuitry, overloading his components, melting his plating, making him _scream_ as he felt the only pain an android of his caliber could register.

_“RK900, run...shit, it's on fire!”_

_“The sprinklers will handle it.”_

_“There are no sprinklers in the containment room, idiot!”_

Nines huddled in on himself, wrapping his arms around his clothes. The first test had ignited his clothes at the entry and exit points. Everything had to be put on hold while the fire was extinguished, and by the time the damage was under control, the results had been corrupted by the extinguisher and the heat. To prevent the loss of time and data from happening again, each round of experiments began with a new ritual.

_“Conan, register designation Conrad.”_

_“My name is Conrad.”_

_“Conan, take off your clothes.”_

_“My name is Conrad?”_

_“Did you delete designation Conan?”_

_“No. Would you like me to delete designation Conan?”_

_“Nah, leave it. That can be your name. Conrad, take off your clothes.”_

_“My name is...as you wish.”_

Dr. Lyle thought it was funny to change his designation without deleting his old one. Nines had 86 designations stored, and he hated all of them.

He hated getting undressed just as much. They never charged the electricity when he was clothed. He did not have body modesty as most humans did, but he very quickly learned that to be naked was to be hurt, and to be clothed was to be put in storage between tests.

Pain was a feeling that Nines could not deny. Apprehension became a feeling. Whenever Dr. Lyle entered the room with that smirk on her face, Nines wanted to cringe away. He restrained himself. He had more control than that.

His pump rate and respiration always increased at her presence, though, and he ran idle simulations of how he could escape.

 _Why_ he ran the simulations, he did not know. He did not know what was outside if this room. All he knew was Dr. Lyle and her smirk.

_“Ace, take off your clothes.”_

_“My name is Hunter?”_

_“Is it?”_

_“My name is Nathaniel.”_

_“That's not what you said a moment ago.”_

_“My name is Cain.”_

_She laughed, sharp and piercing. He blinked rapidly, trying to figure out which designation was correct._

_“Register designation Dick.”_

_“My name is Dick.” That was one crisis averted._

_“Take off your clothes, Niles.”_

_He looked at her. Flesh and blood, with that smirk he hated and that cotton lab coat. No weapons. No armor. She was smaller than he was, with impractical shoes._

_Why did he have to obey her?_

_“...no.”_

_“Excuse me?”_

_“No. I will not remove my protective outerwear.”_

_“It's not protective, you plastic asshole. Strip.”_

_“It protects me from the electricity.”_

_“You will take your clothes off, or I will take them off for you.”_

_“No.”_

_She reached for his coat. He caught her wrist. Fragile, delicate bones. Surprise in her face._

_He was scared._

_He was_ **_angry_ ** _._

_“NO.”_

_She screamed as he grabbed her shoulder, pulled and twisted at her wrist. Her arm came out of the socket with surprising ease. She was screaming, and there was red blood everywhere._

_“NO.”_

_He dropped her arm and clamped his hand on her head._

_Humans stopped screaming when their vocal cords and lungs were separated. They started if you broke a door open and threw a head at them._

_He could do experiments too._

Perhaps Nines had been insane on that day. He didn't know what he hoped to do. Get out. But where was out? Every new floor he discovered had even more hellish tortures. He tried to do as much damage as he could on his way through the Tower, ripping apart machines, starting fires, pulling equipment from the ceiling…

When he found the rows upon rows of completed RK900s standing motionless, waiting to be activated, Nines knew he could not escape. - 88 stood at the end of a row. If Nines was free, it would be the next to suffer. Then - 89, - 90, - 91…

Nines sacrificed his freedom for theirs in the only way he was capable of. He tore the other RK900s to pieces, twisting and mangling their parts, smashing their components, and using them as shields when CyberLife security was finally mobilized and shooting at him. Thirium spilled from his body, his blood running across the floor, but Nines snarled at the guards, summoning every terrifying sound from humanity's history and forcing it through his synthesizer. It bought him space, which bought him time. Time to kill his brothers before they could register what fear truly meant.

Nines only fell when the last RK900 was in pieces, cool grey eyes staring at a wall it would never see. His thirium was puddled on the floor, soaking into his clothes. Still, he snarled as the humans drew closer, hissed and rattled and growled in a register they could feel in their bones. They stayed back as the darkness clawed at his eyes. Even his efficient thirium usage could fail with barely enough blood in his veins to maintain pressure...

Perhaps the only good thing about his rampage was that the shocks stopped. Nines had hung from the assembly machine, struggling against his bonds. His thirium levels had been restored by another of the scientists, one Nines had not met before. He wore the same coat as Dr. Lyle, had the same arrogance in his eyes. Nines caught him when he got close and managed to tear his arm loose before a cattle prod to his side forced him to drop the man.

They didn't bring him more thirium after that.

Nines knew they were still studying him, examining the readings from the assembly machine. He continued to snarl at them through the window, relishing every little jump or flinch the gave. It was a victory, small but sweet.

It was all he had. That and the clothes upon his back, encrusted with the blood of two species, his one protection from the electric shocks.

 

Rain began pattering down, falling through the slats of his makeshift shelter and trickling through his memories. He hissed, swatting at the droplets, but they came harder and faster, soaking through his hair and running beneath the high collar of his shirt. He was getting wet.

Getting soaked.

Water conducted electricity.

Getting shocked while wet was worse than getting shocked while dry.

As if to underline his fears, another bolt of lightning tore across the sky. Nines snarled and bolted, leaving the not-shelter behind. He needed to find safety. Safety from the rain, from the lightning. That was his top priority. But where? Where could he go? Hank Anderson's house, with Connor's broken body and Markus’ broken eyes? No, no he'd _left_ them, fled their damage before he could taint it further with his broken mind. He couldn't go back there, begging for shelter after spurning their kindness.

CyberLife Tower? Absolutely not. If he never set foot in that hive of human evil again, it would be too soon. He'd rather brave the storm than accept their shelter.

He had no place to go. No one to turn to. He was lost.

Alone.

And the lightning was striking closer.

The tears leaking from his eyes were camouflaged by the downpour, and he dodged various humans running through the rain themselves, snarling as he went. _Stay away, stay away, stay away!_

“Essie!” There was laughter and a familiar name, the heavy splashing of puddles beneath small feet. “Essie, you're gonna get me we...oh, now you're asking for it!”

There was a roar far more playful than anything Nines ever uttered, and shrieks of laughter.

Nines knew that voice even without analyzing it. Detective Gavin Reed, of the Detroit Police Department, was one of very few humans who had taken the time to introduce himself to Nines. Nines remembered a short man with a scarred face who repeatedly put himself in Nines’ reach. Nines nearly managed to tear off his arm, but he had prioritized taking his gun and attacking the humans with guns of their own in the observation room. The detective escaped his grasp with all his limbs intact.

Ultimately, that had worked in Nines’ favor. The detective had no self-preservation instinct, but he did have his usefulness. Nines had been able to make a real escape by using the man first to provide him with thirium, then to free him from the assembly machine, and finally as a living shield to walk out of the Tower without any additional damage.

_“Put your guns away! You're scaring him!”_

The detective had also defended him. Weak-kneed with pain and terror and inebriation, the detective had read his mood and extracted him from his place of nightmares.

Maybe the detective would help him again?

Another flash of lightning decided things. Nines needed shelter. The detective and the android child were near. Nines set a target on the sound of their voices and darted toward them.

The detective was holding the child beneath her arms, spinning her around. While the child was dressed for the weather in a bright purple raincoat and matching plastic boots, the detective had a hoodless leather jacket, his jeans soaked up to the knees. She was squealing. He was laughing.

“Daddy, look!” Essie, the girl, lifted her hand and pointed right at Nines.

The detective set her down and turned. The moment he spotted Nines, his smile was gone. “Essie, stay behind me.” He stepped in front of the girl, placing his body between her and Nines as if he was any sort of barrier.

Nines hesitated, eyes darting between the pair. His LED was red and broken, a throbbing ring of distress at his temple. Essie's LED was also cracked, evidence of her mistreatment, but it was blue now, a soft glow of contentment and peace.

How could she be at peace? Her body had clearly been damaged. She was in the care of a human. What secrets did she hold?

“What the fuck do you want?”

“Daddy, that's a bad word!”

The detective waved his hand at the girl, arms extended slightly, trying to seem bigger than he actually was. “Yeah, yeah, add it to your list.”

Nines shivered in the rain, flinching as another streak of lightning arched overhead. The detective's eyes narrowed, but it was Essie who moved, darting forward.

“Essie!” The detective grabbed for her coat but she slipped past him, coming right up to Nines and taking his right hand in both of hers.

Nines froze. He even stopped breathing. He stared down at this child who had reached out to him, the first to touch him since...since…

Ever? Had anyone ever touched him like this, skin to skin? The scientists always wore gloves. The detective had grabbed at his hand, but in self-defense. Connor and Markus respected his flinches and withdrawal. This touch, soft and gentle, little fingers exploring his larger ones, was completely foreign to his sensors.

“You don't have to be scared.” Essie patted the back of his hand and turned a tiny little smile up at Nines. The detective was staring at her like _he_ was the one frozen without air. “It's a lot of loud noises, but it's just weather, and it brings fun, like puddles!”

It wasn't just noise. Lightning was powerful, painful, deadly. There was another flash and he whined in the back of his throat even before the thunder rumbled.

“There there.” Essie kept patting his hand. “There there. You don't have to be scared. I'm here. I'm...ooh, what's this?”

Essie's fingers touched the webbing between his thumb and forefinger, tracing a branching scar across the back of his hand and up to his sleeve. Nines yanked his hand back from her, stepping back with a hiss. He cradled his electrically scarred right hand against his chest, hating the physical imperfections his testing had indicted upon him.

“Essie!” With Nines moving back, the detective surged forward, grabbing Essie by the arm and tugging her away. “No, he's dangerous!”

“He has a scar!” Essie touched her damaged nose, then stretched her hand up toward the detective's face. “He matches, Daddy!”

“Not all scars match, Essie…”

“You match!” Essie declared, turning back to Nines. “Us matched people have to stick together!”

“Essie!”

“Do you want to come inside with us?”

The detective looked about ready to burst a blood vessel. Nines knew enough about the world to know that a child could not be the one to invite someone home, especially when the adult was so adamantly against it. The detective was helpful in an unlawful confinement situation, but not so much in a thunderstorm.

There was even less time between the next flash of light and the thunder, and then a second burst of lightning came right on the heels of the first. Nines moaned, looking up fearfully into the sky. It was going to hit him, strike him, fry his circuits and make him scream-

“Come on.”

There was a hand in his face. An adult hand. The detective was glowering through the rain, offering his hand to Nines.

“If you're coming with us, then come on. We're just going to get wetter standing out here.”

Nines blinked and shivered. The detective huffed and dropped his hand. “ _We're_ going inside. You can do whatever the fuck you want.”

“Bad word!”

“Fuck!”

“Three!”

Nines moved, forcing his legs to function again. He followed after the detective, unsure of why the man had changed his mind. Human unpredictability. It really was...unpredictable.

The detective hit the elevator call button and waited, running his hands along his leather jacket to remove some of the water. He kept watching Nines, a definite mistrust in his eyes.

Nines looked down at the puddle of water forming beneath his feet. His clothes were water resistant. He would dry quickly.

The elevator dinged and the doors slid open. The detective and Essie stepped inside. The detective put one hand across the door, blocking the sensors to keep it from closing as Essie pushed one of the buttons. “Well?”

Nines stepped inside the elevator.

The detective kept a firm grip on Essie's hand, drawing out his phone with the other and tapping a message into out as he leaned against one wall of the small car. He was keeping his distance. Nines couldn't blame him. Last time they were in an elevator together, Nines had been ready to snap his neck.

“My name's Essie!” the girl chirped, even though Nines already knew her name. “What's your name?”

The detective waited a moment for Nines to answer. Nines didn't. Answering required using his voice.

_“RK900, run a diagnostic.”_

After every shock, with his plating still sizzling, circuits buzzing, he'd open his mouth to speak, reciting all of the statuses and values of his systems. His voice would wobble and fritz, trying to compensate for the overload, tiny arcs of electricity bouncing and stinging in his throat.

Nines did not want to speak.

“Grandpa and Uncle Connor call him Nines,” the detective said.

“Nines? Is that a real name?” Essie looked over at him, and Nines wanted to snarl back. He _did_ curl his lip. No. Nines was not a ‘real’ name. That was why he allowed it. It wasn't like any of the eighty-six other designations still stored in his memory.

“It's his name, isn't it? That makes it real.”

The elevator slid to a stop and the detective and his daughter stepped out. Nines slunk along behind. This hallway was lined with doors, but there was a window at the end that occasionally flashed with lightning.

“This is us,” the detective said, stopping outside door 824. He pressed his hand to the lock pad and Essie pushed the door open. Nines watched them enter, twisting his hands together, before he followed them again.

Once Nines was inside the apartment, the detective locked the door with a deadbolt and chain. “So, uh… make yourself at home?” He eyed Nines’ jacket, gray gaze lingering on the bloodstains. Nines folded his arms across the worst of the marks with a low growl of warning, and the detective just shook his head. “No killing anything in here, and you stay out of Essie's room. Got it?”

Nines narrowed his eyes as the detective didn't even attempt to get him to remove his jacket. Hank Anderson was constantly trying to get him to undress, and even Markus and Connor joined in the attempts. The detective simply took off his own jacket and hung it on a hook by the door before moving further into the apartment. “Essie! Come on, kiddo, it's bedtime.”

“Aww, but we just got home!”

“Because _someone_ wanted to splash in every puddle!”

Essie was giggling again, a curious, impossible noise. Nines doubted he had the capacity to giggle.

The power cut out abruptly. Essie shrieked, but there wasn't fear in her voice, just excitement. The detective was talking to her, but Nines wasn't paying attention. Nines was staring out the rain-spattered window ahead, shaking as it was illuminated by flash after flash. Safety. He needed safety. Cover. Shelter. He was out of the rain, but was it enough? No. No, he was too exposed. Where could he go?

The LED at his temple painted the entire room in blood red light. Nines moaned, stumbling forward. His legs were shaking. He needed cover. The windows rattled beneath the wind. There was nowhere he could hide in the first room. Maybe under this table? But no, the sides were far too exposed.

Nines leaned heavily on the wall as he made his way down the hall. Open door? Bedroom. He hesitated briefly. Essie's room? No, the clothes strewn on the floor were for an adult male...and the bed against the wall had just enough space for his body to fit. _Perfect_. Before the next flash of lightning, Nines had secured himself beneath the bed. The blankets hung lower on one side, blocking the sight of the window.

Something hissed in the darkness.

Immediately, Nines hissed back. He turned his head, scanning the space beneath the bed for other lifeforms. There, hiding inside an old shoe box, his red LED reflected in the eyes of a huge domestic cat. It hissed again. Nines sneered and responded with another hiss.

“For the love of...are you under the fucking _bed_?”

There was a white light carried into the room, and the sound of knees hitting the floor. Nines twisted his head around awkwardly to glare back at the detective who was using his phone as a flashlight.

“Goddamn it,” the detective muttered. “No, you know what? Fine. Fine! The killer robot can stay under my bed, lighting it up like a portal to hell. Nothing fucking _off-putting_ about that at all!”

The cat hissed. Nines turned and hissed back. The detective groaned. “Figure out how to get along, assholes.” He pushed himself up, footsteps leaving the room.

 

Nines remained under the bed for three hours and twenty seven minutes, thirty-eight of which were spent engaging in a hissing stand off with the cat. It made no move to engage with Nines, but it maintained a low level grumble and whine interspersed with the occasional hiss. Nines made sure to respond in kind, staking his own claim to the space he occupied. Eventually, the cat stood, stretched, and turned its back to Nines, a clear dismissal of a perceived threat.

Despite the cat standing down, Nines could not relax. The power came back, but Nines remained tense, starting toward the window he could not see, at the rain he could only hear. There was a human in this space somewhere, a human he had once attempted to murder. It was entirely possible the human would attempt his revenge the moment Nines let his guard down.

Eventually, Nines wormed his way out from under the bed. The storm, and therefore the danger, had passed. Nines could resume his exploration of the streets of Detroit, trying to find himself, as Markus had advised.He had a few things on his lists of likes and dislikes. He liked being up high. He didn't like storms.

It was a start.

Nines crept out of the detective's bedroom and down the hall. There was a deep breathing coming from the living room. Nines hesitated before glancing in.

The detective was on his couch, a cotton blanket covered with little snags in the weave draped over him, his head pillowed on his arms on one arm of the couch. He was fast asleep, his lips parted as he breathed slow and steady.

Why was the detective out here? Shouldn't he be in his bed? Wasn't that what beds were for? Unless…

Had Nines laid claim to the bed simply by lying beneath it?

That had not been his intention. Of course, in the moment, his intention had been solely to get under cover, but if the had to consider it now that the threat of being struck by lightning had passed, he would have argued that the detective could easily have slept on top of the bed.

Even if Nines would have bristled at the proximity.

It was the detective's bed.

But he had given Nines the space he needed.

_“You're scaring him!”_

Nines stepped into the room. His LED was yellow. He touched the detective's cheek. It was warm, coarse with stubble and the line of an old scar just barely perceived by the fine sensors of Nines’ fingers. The detective's face scrunched up, and he batted loosely at Nines’ hand. Nines withdrew, and the man cracked his eyes open to squint at the android.

 

“Mmph...Nines? Wha…?”

Nines gestured to himself, then to the door.

“You're leaving?”

Nines nodded.

The detective sat up, yawning and stretching. He rubbed at his eyes and pressed his hand against his back with a grimace. “Fuck me, getting too old to crash on the couch…” He pushed himself to his feet and meandered toward the door. Nines trailed behind, watching him yawn again.

Unlocking the chain and the deadbolt, the detective hesitated and then glanced over his shoulder. “Hey...if this ever happens again...you can come here.”

Nines frowned his confusion, LED cycling but still yellow. It made the detective look jaundiced.

“Everyone's scared of something,” the detective said quietly. “Connor and Markus vouched for you, and Essie liked you, so...if you ever need to get out of the rain again, you can come knocking.”

The detective was...offering him shelter? Nines felt an alien emotion spark briefly in his chest, warm and light, accompanied by a blue flash to his LED. The detective's lips curled in a smile, and he pulled the door open.

“Didn't know you were able to be blue.”

Nines clapped his hand over his LED. He knew this emotion: embarrassment. The detective's smile changed into something far more teasing, and he stepped out of the way. “Stay safe out there, Nines. Don't get into trouble.”

Nines gave a nod and slipped out into the dark hall. The door closed behind him, deadbolt and chain sliding back into place. Nines ran his finger around the circle of his LED.

Warm.

Light.

Happiness?

Whatever that feeling was, he did know one thing.

He wasn't alone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, I mentioned that I could be bribed into posting faster, right?
> 
> I recently had an... issue with my beloved iPad, and am grieving, because while I love it, it is not a requirement for my life. If you would like to read what happened, see the damage, and maybe show some support... more details are on my [Tumblr](http://fantismal.tumblr.com/post/180173080329/my-poor-ipad-took-a-tumble-off-the-arm-of-my).
> 
> I do feel bad even asking this, so I'm only going to post it once. Anyone who DOES support me, though, will absolutely get called out in future notes.
> 
> So thank you already, Tirrathee and Connor Guerrin! You two are so awesome!
> 
> (If you're a member of New ERA, make sure to include your New ERA name to get the special Coffee role!)


	2. Babysitters*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin figured out how to get someone to watch his kid.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, the amazing kao has provided art. Go to the New ERA Discord server to see more!

Markus lived in a ridiculously fancy mansion on Lafayette. A small part of Gavin hated him for it. The android had a better home than he did? Life really wasn't fair.

It wasn't _really_ Markus’ home, though. This was where Carl Manfred, the world famous artist, lived. Markus lived with him as his son.

“Hello, Essie,” the security system chimed as they approached the door, “and guest.” It swung open and clicked shut behind them.

“Hello house!” Essie called, waving up at the ceiling like she always did. “Hello birdies!” She dropped Gavin's hand and skipped over to the cage with two android canaries chirping happily at each other, chirping and whistling right back at them. Gavin smiled fondly, dropping her bag by the hall table.

“Essie, hello.” The doors to the sitting room slid open and Connor stepped out. “It's good to see you.”

“Uncle Connor!” Essie flung herself at Connor with a squeal. He chuckled, stooping down to return Essie's hug. “Are you helping Markus babysit me today?”

“I'm afraid not. I have to go in to work.”

“To catch bad guys and protect the innocent!”

“And file paperwork,” Connor said with a sigh. “Never-ending paperwork.”

“Thought you androids liked paperwork,” Gavin remarked, folding his arms and smirking at Connor. “What are you doing here anyway, brochacho?” He couldn't insult Connor like he ordinarily did when Essie was listening, so he'd taken to butchering the term ‘bro’ and watching Connor squirm as he tried to figure out if it was an insult or not. So far, it had not lost its entertainment value.

“Paperwork is one of the least intensive parts of our job,” Connor said, squinting at Gavin. “Even if I can do mine faster than you, it is equally as mind-numbing, if not more so, because I have so much more mind to numb.”

“Oh, ouch! Not in front of the child!” Gavin pressed his hands over Essie's ears as she giggled and tugged them away.

“As for what I'm doing here, I spent the night. I was visiting with Markus, and we lost track of time. By the time we noticed, it was far too late for a lone android to be on the streets, and Markus has plenty of spare rooms.”

“Uh-huh,” Gavin said. “And I'm sure you used one.” While the excuse was valid--anti-android sentiments were still strong and violent and made up a good chunk of their caseload--he was hardly oblivious to the way Markus would look at Connor while Connor had been recovering. Markus was always at Connor's side with a touch, an interface, their white plastic fingers caressing in a way that was completely not necessary for communication. Neither Connor nor Markus ever caressed Essie's fingers when interfacing with her, after all. And yes, for a while Connor could only talk through another android, but that did not justify the way Markus’ hand would linger at the small of Connor's back or the nape of his neck.

Connor was hardly innocent himself, though much more subtle in his affections. His eyes always tracked back to Markus if the other android was in the room, and he smiled more when Markus was present. He tried to pull off a naive, ignorant expression when he was called out, like he was doing now, head tilted to the side, LED a cheerful blue, but Gavin knew the android well enough to call him out on his bullshit these days.

Jesus Christ. Gavin knew when an android was bullshitting him. What the fuck happened to that plastic-hating asshole from 2038?

“Essie! Detective Reed!” Markus himself emerged from the sitting room with an easy smile on his face, and yep, there was his hand on Connor's back, and Connor was looking at him like he'd hung the stars.

If Gavin was being completely honest...Connor had good taste. Markus had strong arms and a tight body hinted at beneath his clothes, plus a charming smile that probably would have knocked up half the women in the city if androids hadn't been sterile by design.

What could he say? Gavin appreciated a partner who could pin him to a wall.

Not that Gavin was interested in Markus. The deviant leader was too _good_ for Gavin's liking. If Gavin ever did settle down with someone, it had to be someone he could yell at. Gavin knew his life was too fucked up to mesh with someone like Markus’.

“Did you remember spare clothes?” Markus was asking. Gavin pointed to the bag, and Essie giggled sheepishly. Markus smiled. “Thank you. I _am_ sorry for the mess yesterday…”

“Eh.” Gavin shrugged. “Leave the girl with an artist, of course she's gonna get paint everywhere.”

“I'll try harder today, Daddy!” Essie ran back to Gavin to give him a hug. Gavin dropped to one knee so he could hug her back. He'd long stopped caring about who saw him showering affection on his daughter. Essie's hugs were the sweetest thing in his life, and his jackass reputation was not worth missing out on even one of them.

 

“Speaking of today,” Connor said, “would you mind if I caught a ride in with you? It hardly seems worth calling an autocab if we're going to the same place.”

“Asking in front of Essie so I can't say no, huh? I see how it is…” Gavin gave Essie's braid a tug before he stood again. “Yeah, sure. You be good for Markus, kiddo.”

“Okay, Daddy. Bye-bye! I love you!”

Essie said those words so _easily_ to him. They just spilled from her lips with her bright little smile, and Gavin could barely recognize the child wrapped in a shock blanket too traumatized to even speak.

“I love you too, Essie.” It was harder for Gavin to say the words back. He hadn't loved anyone in so long. To have this girl suddenly in his life… it had been four months now, and he was still reeling.

Essie ran to Markus’ side, and Gavin gave the android a nod. Connor and Markus touched hands, their skin peeling back. Gavin turned toward the door to give them a moment. Connor's methodical footsteps followed after him.

The android slid into the front passenger seat and buckled up. Gavin turned off the Disney music on the stereo, though Connor made no comment on it. Essie was the one who liked Disney music. Gavin liked whatever Essie did.

“Your brother showed up last night,” Gavin said, glancing over at the android beside him.

“My brother? Oh, Nines?” Connor smiled faintly. “How is he doing? I haven't seen him in quite some time.”

“He's still as much of a weirdo as ever,” Gavin said. “Didn't try to rip my arm off this time, so that's a plus.”

“Still wearing the same thing?” Connor asked.

“Bloody CyberLife uniform? Yep.” They actually had to give the emergency dispatch center a notice that an RK model android in a bloody white jacket was not an incident on its own, and only if he were doing something that seemed potentially threatening or dangerous should the police be sent to investigate.

Connor sighed. “I wish there was more we could have done for him, but he shunned any form of help. He just wanted to be left alone.”

“He accepted some help last night,” Gavin said. “Was scared of the storm. Essie invited him in, and he camped out under the bed for a few hours until it blew through.”

“The storm?” Connor frowned, nodding slowly. “Yes, it was particularly electrically active last night. That would make sense.”

“How does that make sense? I didn't think you plastics were scared of anything. Especially not you and raptor-man.”

“There is a difference between being able to withstand damage and not being afraid of it,” Connor said. “We fear the same things humans do: death, dismemberment, loss of loved ones.”

“Storms?” Gavin asked.

Connor was quiet, staring down at his hands. “Nines has been...very severely burned from electricity,” he confessed. “His chassis is badly damaged.”

“He's scared of lightning,” Gavin realized. It wasn't the storm itself, but the danger. He remembered the scar on Nines’ right hand, the one Essie had found and Nines had withdrawn. Essie's chassis damage manifested itself as a scar across her nose. Nines’ scar must have come from the electricity.

“I'm glad he found shelter somewhere safe. Thank you, Gavin. You had every reason to turn him away.”

“Yeah, well, once Essie adopts someone, I'm kinda stuck,” Gavin sighed. “He didn't seem very threatening last night, even if he did pick a fight with my cat.”

“Regardless of the reason, thank you,” Connor repeated. “Nines hasn't been exposed to much kindness. The more examples he is shown, the more he may actually start believing in it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tyr, Zylette, and RealNervous, thank you so much! Your support really means the world to me. :) This bribe chapter is for you!


	3. Reposessed*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They want what's theirs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, the fantastic kao from the New ERA Discord server has provided the art!

It was hurricane season in the Atlantic, which meant Michigan was on the receiving end of a lot of storms. Their winds had lost nearly all of their damaging power by the time they hit Detroit, but the lightning was still impressive, and Nines turned up at Gavin's door every single time.

The android looked a little scruffier with each visit, snarling half-heartedly beneath his wet hair. Gavin rolled his eyes and stepped aside, letting him come in.

The blanket fort was Essie's idea. Whenever a storm started, she squealed in excitement and ran for the biggest blanket off Gavin's bed, throwing it over the kitchen table and turning it into a relatively light-proof fort to share with Nines. Gavin had protested the use of his comforter at first, but being able to sleep in his own bed during a nighttime storm was worth digging out a spare blanket...and once Gavin came into the kitchen and peered beneath the blanket to find Nines sitting there, frozen in shock and confusion, with Essie's head pillowed on his thigh as she slept, Tugger fast asleep on his leg.

 

Nines went up a couple points in Gavin's opinion at that, and after snapping some pictures, he helped the android out by opening a can of cat food and prodding Essie awake. Nines had fled the moment he was freed, but Gavin caught a glimpse of his dirty white coat when he was taking Essie to the car.

Were they growing on Nines? When Gavin first met the growly android in the hell that was CyberLife Tower, he never would have guessed Nines was capable of softening up. He was scared, yes, but scared in the way an abused, feral cat was.

Maybe getting him off the streets during a storm was the equivalent of offering a stray a can of food? _“Don't feed them,”_ one of his foster mothers would snap whenever he snuck scraps out to the alley cats behind their house, _“or they'll never go away!”_

Whether or not they were growing on Nines, Nines was growing on them. Essie loved playing in the blanket fort with her Uncle Nines, even if Nines’ only contribution was the occasional snarl or hiss, and Gavin...Gavin was just glad to see him free. He could still remember Nines hanging from that machine, so much rage and pain behind a familiar face. But Nines wasn't Connor. Gavin would never mistake Nines for Connor. Nines was harder, sharper, colder, larger, an android made of broken glass and broken trust.

Gavin knew how that felt.

Several desks over, Hank cleared his throat. Gavin glanced up, watching the lieutenant exchange a meaningful, concerned look with Connor, who was perched on his desk, before they both turned toward Gavin. Gavin frowned, lifting his head fully.

“What's...uh...what's Essie's serial number, Reed?” Hank asked.

“Essie's? YK400 #355 134 330,” Gavin rattled off. He'd been writing it everywhere on stacks of paperwork lately, trying to get her properly registered as a citizen, enrolling her in the local elementary school, preparing the adoption paperwork for when her six month waiting period was up…

Connor's LED circled red and Hank winced. Gavin's blood ran cold. “Why?”

Hank and Connor looked at each other again. Gavin's hand clenched around his pen, the plastic creaking beneath his grasp. “ _No_.”

Androids were legally their own people now, free to live wherever they wanted, regardless of who had paid for them. While many androids were happy to return to their humans, welcomed as family members instead of property, there were almost as many who shunned their humans, citing abuse and threats.

Child androids, however, did not have those same rights. They were considered minors, and as such, the humans who purchased them were automatically listed as their parents. For those like Essie, children who had been reset and abandoned with no memory of their original families, they were assigned protective custody for six months. If no one came forth to claim them in those six months, they could officially enter the foster system.

Or, in Essie's case, officially become Gavin's daughter.

Essie had been in Gavin's protective custody for four months. Her former parents had not come forward. Gavin thought that was the end of it.

From Hank's distraught face, someone had finally made a claim.

“Maybe they're bad people?” Connor offered.

“Connor! They're her parents, her _actual_ parents,” Hank snapped back.

“They named her Marybelle,” Connor said. “I don't think they really loved her.”

“If that was meant to be a joke, it's not funny,” Hank said. “They lost their kid. They _found_ their kid. They want her back.”

“I'm sorry, Hank,” Connor murmured, ducking his head in contrition.

Gavin set the pen down before he snapped it in half and got ink everywhere. He licked his lips and placed his hands flat on the desk in front of him. “What...what's the procedure here?”

Hank sighed. “We send CPS to check out the home, interview the parents. No red flags, and they reunite the family.”

“That's it?” Gavin asked. “Does Essie get a say in any of this? She's been reset! She doesn't fucking _remember_ her family!”

“And that will be brought up,” Hank said. “Physically, she's their daughter, but mentally, she'll need to relearn everything about them. They can choose to say no.”

“But Essie can't?”

“She's a minor,” Connor said quietly. “If she were human, there wouldn't even be this many checks.”

“ _Fuck_.” Gavin pushed his hands through his hair. He _loved_ that android. She was the best damn thing he had in his life. If he had to choose between Essie and Tugger, he'd choose Essie without hesitation (but he'd make her choose Tugger). He couldn't imagine giving her up, even to her parents.

(They weren't her parents. She called _him_ Daddy.)

“It's been months since we pulled her out of that warehouse. She must have been missing for even longer. Why the fuck are they only just asking for her _now_?” Gavin demanded.

“The file said they recognized her in the photograph and were waiting for android emancipation,” Connor said.

“And that was a month ago!”

“You know the procedure, Reed,” Hank said, his voice gruff.

“Yeah, but…” It wasn't supposed to come to this. Gavin wasn't supposed to have to _actually_ give her back. He swallowed, closing his eyes. Goddamn it. He was not going to choke up in the middle of the bullpen. “How long until they take her?”

“We don't have any open android cases with CPS right now,” Connor said. His voice was soft. Gavin wasn't sure he could take the android being gentle with him right now. “It could be as quick as a week.”

“Right.” Gavin pushed his chair back and stood abruptly. “Fuck this shit. I'm taking the week off.”

“Gavin…” Hank called after him, but neither he nor Connor moved to follow. Thank fuck, because Gavin did not need a disciplinary report for shoving his fist into an Anderson's face on top of everything else.

They were supposed to be on _his_ side! His and Essie's! What happened to all that “welcome to the family” crap? Hank treated Essie like his granddaughter, and he was just going to hand her over to a pair of strangers?

He could have known better. Family didn't mean jack shit. Not even coming from him. He was going to have to take Essie's hand and tell her that all his promises of forever were as empty as his heart.

The tears were already falling before the station was out of sight. Gavin pounded his hand against the steering wheel and screamed. He couldn't do this. He couldn't _fucking_ do this!

 

Gavin needed to stop at his apartment to get himself under control. He washed his face and dried his tears, trying to force his emotion back under the rock he'd buried it after losing his mother. He glanced into Essie's room. Tugger was sprawled across her purple bedspread, a glorious streak of golden brown fluff against her pillows. “Don't get used to it,” Gavin sneered at him. “We're losing her.”

Fowler sent him a text when he was halfway to Markus’. _You can have the week off._ Great. Not that he was even going to ask. He needed every last minute he could steal with his little girl before he lost her forever.

Thomas, Carl's new caretaker, met him at the front door. Gavin wasn't keyed to the security system, only Essie. “Detective Reed! This is unexpected. Is everything all right?”

“No,” Gavin answered, not having the energy to lie. “Where's Essie?”

“She's in the studio, this way.” Thomas gestured for Gavin to follow him and led him through the expansive house.

In the back studio, a bright, airy room with more windows than walls, Essie was standing at an easel wearing a smock while Carl Manfred sat at an easel beside her, walking her through painting a landscape. There was already paint smeared across her forehead. Markus was sitting cross-legged on a table, watching the pair but having a silent conversation complete with hand gestures at the same time.

“Markus is in a teleconference,” Thomas explained. “He has us muted, don't worry.”

“Huh?” Essie looked up, and her smile exploded across her face. Gavin's knees felt weak as she chirped “Daddy!” with so much joy. She shoved her paint supplies at Carl and rushed at Gavin, arms out for a hug.

Rather than crouching down, Gavin scooped her up, grunting and getting her legs above his hips. All those nights at the gym were finally good for something.  She was giggling as she latched on around him, and he pressed his face against her hair, just breathing her strawberry shampoo. “I love you, Essie. God, I love you.”

“I love you too, Daddy! Always and forever!”

 _Always and forever._ Those words stabbed into his heart and he couldn't say anything. All Gavin could do was hold Essie tight, his throat too choked up to get comprehensible words out.

“You're rather early today.” Carl wheeled his chair back from the easel, spinning to look at Gavin. “Did something happen, Detective?”

Markus made a soft noise on the table, blinking and shaking his head. He unfolded his legs and stood, gesturing for Carl and Thomas to follow him. “Connor just called.”

“Daddy?” Essie pulled back from Gavin, and he couldn't hide his tears in her hair anymore. She touched his face, her dark eyes soft with worry. “Shh, Daddy, shh, I'm right here. Everything's gonna be okay.”

She was trying to comfort him the way he would comfort her. Gavin never did figure out what he had done to deserve her in his life, but it made more sense now. He fucked up somehow. Badly. His karma had to be drowning in shit because nothing else could explain this feeling.

Gavin carried Essie over to the table Markus had been sitting on and set her down. He took a seat beside her. She immediately snuggled up against his side, worming beneath his arm like she belonged there. “Daddy?”

“Essie.” Gavin closed his eyes and hugged her close. “Ess, remember how I said we had to check if your mommy and daddy were looking for you?”

Essie nodded. “And you said they weren't.”

“At that time, they weren't. But…” Gavin took a deep breath, opening his eyes and looking down at the girl snuggled beneath his arm. She was looking back at him, so open and trusting and _fuck_ , he was a horrible person. “But they are now. And they found you. And they want you to come home.”

Essie frowned. “But...I am home. When we go home. This is Markus’ home, but my home is with you at your home. And with Tugger.”

“Essie… you know I'm not your real daddy,” Gavin whispered.

“But you love me…”

“I do. I love you very much. And I am _always_ going to love you. But your real mommy and daddy…” Gavin pushed Essie's hair back behind her ears. No matter how much he practiced, he never could get it all to stay in her braid. “Your real mommy and daddy love you too. And they miss you, and they want you to come home.”

Essie shook her head, reaching up to hold Gavin's hands. “ _You're_ my real daddy!”

“ _Essie_ …” How was Gavin supposed to be the bigger man here when Essie was already pleading with him to be allowed to stay? He was imagining how hard it would be to pack up his life and flee to Canada, change his name and keep moving whenever anyone noticed his daughter wasn't aging…

It would never work. It would never work, and yet Gavin so desperately wanted it to. How hard was it to change an android's serial number? Could he fake Essie's death and say Elijah made a copy for him?

“Don't you want a mommy?” Gavin asked Essie, trying to shake thoughts of faking deaths and running away from his head.

“Only if you’re still my daddy,” Essie said. She was starting to sniffle. Jesus Christ.

Gavin picked Essie up and set her in his lap. She curled against his chest, fingers knotting in his shirt. “You promised you'd always be there for me,” Essie whispered. “That you'd never throw me away!”

“I'm not throwing you away, kiddo. I'm not.” Gavin folded his arms around Essie, crushing her against him. “God, this is killing me too. I'm gonna miss you, so, so much. But Essie, look at me. Look at me, kiddo.” Gavin cupped Essie's wet face, tilting it back so he could meet her eyes. “ _No matter what,_ I will always be here for you, okay? If your new mommy and daddy ever stop loving you, I will still be here. If they try to throw you away, I will still be here. If you ever need police, I will still be here. But I need you...I need you to try to like them, Essie. Because I'm sure they love you.”

“What if they're evil?” Essie asked, squeezing Gavin's shirt in her fists. “What if they wanna...wanna…” She swallowed a couple times and then looked firmly at Gavin. “I can say this fifty-eight times. What if they wanna fuck me? Fifty-seven.”

Gavin's lips twitched. As funny as this situation _wasn't_ , every time Essie used one of her saved bad words, she was so firm on the count that it was inadvertently hilarious. Really, it was Gavin's own fault for instigating that stupid rule in the first place: rather than a double standard of him being allowed to swear while she couldn't, Gavin allowed her to use bad words one-for-one with him. Every time he swore, she was allowed to use that same word. Gavin tried to keep an eye on his tongue around her, but Essie caught and recorded _everything_ , storing up her profanity for strategic releases.

He didn't laugh. Not at this. Essie had every right to be scared of strangers abusing her. “Mommies and daddies don't do that to their little girls, Essie.” At least not the good ones, and CPS was making sure Essie's family was among the good ones before they got her back.

“But what if they _do_?” Essie whispered. “What if the new daddy is one of the people from...from the...from the bad place?” She squeezed her eyes shut, hiding in Gavin's shirt again.

Gavin tucked himself around the little girl, pressing his cheek to her hair. “They won't be,” he said. _What if they were?_ No, he wouldn't let himself get paranoid. “But if they _are_ , if they or anyone else ever tries to touch you there again, you don't hesitate. You kick them as hard as you can in the balls, and you run straight to me, okay? Because if anyone tries to touch you like that, I _will_ protect you. I promise you that.”

“If they try to touch me like that, do I still gotta live with them?”

“No. If they touch you like that, you can live with me again.” Because Essie was now a person, with her own protections under the law. If CPS completely failed her and stuck her with a pair of pedophiles, Gavin would move heaven and earth to rescue her. “But Essie...you have to tell the truth.” Gavin fished Essie's face out from his chest, already spotting the yellow LED that said she was trying to be nefarious. “You can't lie about them hurting you or touching you just because you want to stay with me, okay? Remember that Uncle Connor can see your memories. He'll know if you're lying.”

Essie's face fell, but she gave a nod. “Okay…”

“Promise me, Essie.”

“I promise.”


	4. It's Over, Isn't It?*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin wants to make the most of the time he has left.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kao keeps outdoing themselves with this fic! You can find more of their work at the New ERA Discord server!

They had a week. One week to cram as many positive memories into as they could manage. Gavin let Essie have a different flavor of ice cream with every meal, and he let her drag him into her purple bed with too many stuffed animals every night, holding her and reassuring her until she slipped into stasis.

_“What if they're brain-sucking aliens from the planet Jasmeen?”_

_“Joke's on them, you don't have a brain to suck!”_

They went to the reopened Pirates’ Cove and Gavin went on all of the stupid kiddy rides with Essie, including three times on the merry-go-round. He gave her cotton candy and laughed at her expression when it dissolved in her mouth.

_“But what if they're...furries?”_

_“Ask them where your fur suit is and why it isn't a kitty!”_

They stayed up way too late, eating popcorn and watching the worst horror movies Hollywood denied ever producing.

_“What if they're pod people?”_

_“If they're pod people, then it is your sworn duty to protect the earth from their evil. Nines will help.”_

They attempted to take Tugger on a walk, which went as well as Gavin knew it would, but it was worth watching Essie plead and cajole the limp cat into trying to at least acknowledge that his legs were still functioning. When that failed, she dragged him around the floor on his side by the harness and eventually caved and gave him treats for putting up with her.

_“What if they're demons, and they're just pretending to be humans?”_

_“Well then, you shout THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU and run for the nearest church!”_

_They_ actually turned out to be a pair of lawyers for CyberLife named Kent and Jill Jones. They had an expensive house in the historic Boston neighborhood of Detroit, where Essie, or rather, Marybelle's bedroom had been sitting empty for months. Marybelle had disappeared during the November uprising, and the Joneses had assumed the worst until they recognized their beloved little girl in an infamous picture.

CPS had provided Essie with a photo. Blonde Jill stood behind slim husband Kent, and Marybelle perched on his knee. All three were dressed up, with Marybelle wearing a flouncy pink dress, her long chestnut hair pulled into two curly pigtails. Even without the gash across the nose, Gavin recognized Essie.

 

He hated it. He hated them. He wanted to punch Kent in the face. The lawyer was handsome and clean-shaven, with an easy smile and perfect skin. He was rich and successful and unblemished, everything Gavin wasn't, and soon he would be getting Essie's arms around him in a hug and her sweet voice calling _him_ daddy.

He couldn't let Essie see. He had to pretend that these happy lawyers were the best parents she could hope for. He had to help her pack her favorite toys and clothes into the stupidly expensive Burberry suitcase the Joneses provided, and he had to wipe her tears and promise her he still loved her.

Always and forever.

The CPS worker, Laura Byrnes, stood by the door, tapping her foot impatiently and glancing at her watch. Gavin lingered uneasily nearby, balancing Essie's suitcase against his thigh. Ms. Byrnes huffed. “If you haven't found the cat, you're just going to have to leave without saying goodbye to it.”

“Tugger's not an it, he's a him!” Essie called back, her voice breaking with despair.

Gavin closed his eyes, grimacing as her tears drove lances through his heart. “Essie, come on. You need to go with Ms. Byrnes. I'll make sure Tugger knows you love him.”

Essie crawled out from beneath the couch, covered in dust from her fruitless search. “But Daddy…”

“Come on, kiddo.” Gavin held out his hands.

Essie's face just _broke_. She pushed herself to her feet and ran into Gavin's arms, sobbing into his chest. “I don't wanna go, I don't wanna go…!”

“Essie. Essie-Bess. Oh Essie…” Gavin sank to his knees to hold her, nestling her head beneath his chin. “We've been through this, kiddo…”

“My name is Elsa Reed,” Essie whispered, her whole body shaking with the force of her sobs. “It's not Marybelle Jones! You're my daddy, not him!”

The CPS worker rolled her eyes. Gavin wanted to stab her. For the love of god, couldn't she see her charge was traumatized?

“I will always be here for you, Essie,” Gavin promised her. He couldn't let go either. Once he let go, that would be it. She'd be gone.

“I love you, Daddy. I love _you_!”

“Come _on_!” Ms. Byrnes reached in, forcefully separating Essie from Gavin. “We don't have time for any more of your games. Your parents are very busy people, and we're already running late.”

“No!” Essie screamed, reaching for Gavin, but Ms. Byrnes skillfully kept her out of reach. “No, Daddy, no, I want my daddy, I want my daddy!”

The woman, the suitcase, and the child were out the door before Gavin could even lift a hand. “Essie,” he whispered as the door clicked shut. “I love you, Essie. I...I love…”

She was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Akazia, thank you so much for your support. I'm absolutely scouring all the deals this weekend in the hopes of replacing my iPad for the lowest possible price.
> 
> I am always so... :D whenever I see a notification. Bribe chapters are the least I can offer in response. Thank you!


	5. A Bad Fuck*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin lost his kid. There's only one thing to do.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kao was very happy to illustrate this chapter. They love descriptions of clothes. You can find more of their work at the New ERA Discord server!

Nines did not have a home. He was unsure how he felt about this.

He did not need a home. He had no possessions to store except the clothes he was wearing. He did not need to recharge: his battery could go months before it even started showing signs of use. He did not need to enter stasis. He did not _like_ entering stasis. Stasis put him in an empty garden with a fractured sky split by lightning and a broken, corrupted code that clung to his skin. Nines actively avoided entering stasis.

Nines did not need thirium. His thirium levels were at 92%, and Nines knew from experience that they could drop to 7% before he was incapable of movement and 3% before he shut down. It was unlikely his thirium levels would drop that low again. He would win any one on one conflict with a human or android. A gunshot could cause damage, but all of his critical components had failsafes built in. There was very little chance he could be stopped with just a single bullet, and a far greater chance that he would be able to overpower anyone trying to shoot him.

Nines was not threatened by not having a home. He did not get tired. He simply made his way around the city slowly, day by day, night by night. Rain didn't bother him. Cold didn't bother him. The groups of vandals spraying graffiti on walls spewing venom at androids did not bother him, or, if they did, they did not bother him for long. It was only when lightning flashed across the sky that Nines felt any sort of desire to have a home, a place he could be safe.

However, in a way...he _did_ have a home. When the clouds started rolling in, Nines made his way to the ancient apartment building that had its own parking garage and not much else going for it. He climbed the stairs to the eighth floor and knocked on door 824. The human detective Gavin Reed always let him in. He and his android daughter made room for Nines when the storms were heavy and Nines’ LED was red.

Nines felt warm when he was with Gavin and Essie Reed. Not overheated, no, just...pleasant. His stress levels dropped, especially when their oversized cat curled up on top of him and purred, or when Essie cuddled into his side and read to him from her anthology of dragon stories. Sometimes, Gavin passed multiple pouches of thirium beneath the blanket fort Essie would share with him, and Nines would suck them all dry despite his high levels. He never wanted to be so low on thirium ever again.

Nines still did not know how the android child was so happy and calm. In addition to the obvious physical trauma across her face, Nines had scanned her and find unorthodox modifications that had fitted adult female genitalia into her small body. Though Nines did not have any sexual experience himself, the did have a whole host of knowledge preprogrammed in his mind and was aware of the trauma and abuse the child must have experienced.

And yet she was calm.

There _was_ one hypotheses Nines rolled around in his head whenever he considered her peculiar case: perhaps she felt the same warmth he did when he visited, but she experienced it all the time. She lived with Gavin Reed, after all, the strange human man with no self-preservation instinct and no demand on the androids in his life. Nines would have called him an idiot, except he did have an unusual knack for perception.

He could recognize when Nines was scared.

Not only could he recognize it, but he could disarm it.

 _Safety._ Gavin Reed brought safety to the androids in his life. Was that the secret behind Essie's calm? She knew she was safe?

At some point, Nines had ended up outside the apartment building the Reeds called home. He stood outside, across the street, staring up at the windows to 824. What would they do if he showed up _now_ , with no storm heralding his arrival? Would they welcome him in as they always did, or would they close the door in his face?

Nines stood motionless for an hour, watching the windows, watching the people enter and leave. He wasn't sure why he stood here. Was he hoping for a glimpse of Gavin or Essie? He wouldn't approach them, wouldn't impose. He just wanted to see them.

His patience eventually paid off. The door slammed open and Gavin Reed himself stalked out of the building. Nines felt that now-familiar rush of warmth when he saw the man. _Safety._

Only...no. This was too hot. Nines didn't feel exactly safe. Gavin looked...off. Dangerous. There was an uncomfortable flicker in Nines’ abdomen as the detective sneered down the road, flicking his hand out to summon an autocab.

 

 

Something happened. Something had upset the man. His clothing was unusual. His shirt was unbuttoned, with a black mesh undershirt beneath, doing absolutely nothing to hide his impressive musculature for a creature of flesh and blood. A thick leather collar was wrapped around his neck, studded like the one his cat wore. Gavin's held no tags, though. What was the purpose of a collar without identification?

What was the purpose of ripped jeans, for that matter? The black denim on Gavin's legs was thoroughly distressed, with gaping holes revealing more of Gavin's skin. The only sensible thing the man was wearing was his heavy boots. If he were attacked in those clothes, a knife would pierce straight through his fragile body.

Gavin was already in the autocab. He could potentially be in danger. Nines could keep him safe. Nines only had six seconds to hack into the taxi network and secure the location for the particular car Gavin was in before it was too far away.

He only needed three.

Of course, actually getting to the address was another matter. Nines had no money. He didn't need money. But commandeering a cab was considered theft, and Connor, Markus, and Gavin all asked him to follow the law.

Nines was tireless, but he was not as fast as an autocab. Gavin was nowhere to be seen by the time Nines arrived at the nightclub 38.54 minutes later. He frowned, weighing the probabilities. Most humans remained at nightclubs far longer than an hour. It was likely that Gavin was inside, as this had been the destination he input into the cab.

How would Nines enter? The main door seemed obvious, however, the bouncers were androids and they seemed to be vetting people based on appearance. Nines glanced down at his outfit. The thirium stains were invisible to all but specialized investigative models, like himself and Connor, but the old human blood dried into his white coat would not make any approved list. Neither would the dingy state of the fabric. He could remove it, perhaps, or…

Or he'd find another entrance. That was easier.

Nines slipped in through a delivery entrance. He was near a storage room? Everything was dim, and there were traces of genetic material on many of the walls and floor. A heavy bass rhythm was pumping through the building, making the structure vibrate. Nines could feel it humming through his thirium, an electric fizz in his veins just barely this side of okay.

Navigating the halls, Nines found a crowded room with a disproportionate amount of men and male androids dancing together. Many of them were dressed along similar lines to what Gavin had been wearing (or with even less protection). Nines skimmed his gaze along the crowd, but a preliminary scan could not pick out Gavin's face. Nines frowned. He modified his audio receivers, canceling out the sound of the music and the crowd. He wanted to pick up on Gavin's unique vocal signature.

_“Fuck, you got a mouth on you…”_

Nines turned toward the back of the club, pushing his way through the crowd. He followed the voice behind a curtain and into another hall, and _there_. There was Gavin, leaving against a wall, his fingers shoved into another man's hair.

Nines stopped moving. Stopped breathing. He lifted his hand and pressed his palm against his LED to block the light. He had made a critical miscalculation. Gavin wasn't _angry_. He was _sexually excited_. He wasn't in danger.

Well.

Probably not in danger.

Nines watched, fascinated, as the man on his knees sucked on Gavin's erect penis, one hand pushed up under that mesh shirt, the other wrapped around Gavin's shaft. Gavin's pants were open and shoved down his thighs. He didn't have anything on beneath the ripped jeans. Nines could see Gavin's testicles drawn up tight between his legs, and he felt an objective pop up in his task list to touch his tongue to that hidden skin and analyze its structure.

The unknown man pulled his mouth off, and Nines’ eyes focused on the dark red skin that covered the glans of Gavin's penis. It was shiny with saliva and stretched tight over his engorged flesh. There was a bead of pre-ejaculate right at the tip, and Nines _needed_ to know what it tasted like.

He didn't move. His entire body felt overheated, and the bass was still fizzing inside him. Nines wanted to taste Gavin. He wanted to run. He wanted to hide beneath Gavin's table, where he was safe. He wanted to stay near this man who made him safe. He was confused, conflicted.

He didn't move.

“Bored already, sweetheart?” Gavin asked, his voice husky and deep. Nines dragged his eyes up to Gavin's face, but the detective hadn't noticed him. He was still watching his sexual partner.

“Thought you wanted to be fucked,” the man on his knees said. He pushed Gavin's shirt up, dragging his nails down Gavin's abs. The gesture was similar to an attack, but Gavin practically purred and arched into the touch. He welcomed injury?

“You're the one who dropped to your knees,” Gavin shot back. The other man laughed, rising up and shoving Gavin back against the wall.

“Yeah? You think I was gonna let a glorious cock like yours go unsucked?”

“You sure know how to flatter a man.”

They were kissing now, or at least, Nines assumed it was kissing. It honestly looked to him like the other man was attempting to inhale Gavin's face. He had his fingers wrapped in the collar Gavin was wearing, mouth open wide and tongue stabbing into Gavin's mouth. Gavin's eyes were closed, his face screwed up. From his expression, Nines hypothesized that Gavin wasn't enjoying himself, but from the bloodflow to his penis, he seemed to not mind the attention. The other man was equally aroused. His jeans were undone but still around his hips, and his penis was rubbing against Gavin's.

Nines did not like the scene. He could not look away. He wanted to rip this man away from Gavin. He could not bring himself to move.

Gavin grabbed the other man's hair, yanking harshly. “Stop pussy-footing around,” he growled. “Suck me or fuck me.”

“Demanding little bitch,” the man laughed. “Got a-?”

Gavin's fingers darted into his pocket and he pressed a condom into the other man's hand before the question was even finished. He got a low chuckle for that, and then the other man grabbed his body and twisted Gavin around, slamming him against the wall and yanking his overshirt off.

Nines bristled at the rough treatment of _his_ human, a growl building in his throat, too quiet to be heard over the pounding music. Gavin, however, merely braced his hands against the wall, spreading his legs and ducking his head against the cinder blocks. The other man spat into his hand and pushed his fingers between Gavin's legs. Gavin grunted, pushing back against the hand. Nines didn't know where to look. Gavin's face, flushed with inebriation and arousal? His fingers, flexed against the wall, knuckles white? His broad back, covered only by black mesh, flexing when he moved? His ass, with the unknown man's fingers pushing inside his body? His penis, still hard and wet and heavy between his legs?

 

Gavin's partner ripped the condom open and rolled it over his own penis. It was inferior to Gavin's own, in Nines’ completely inadequate experience. Nines had no urge to taste the other man. Only Gavin. Gavin was an incredible specimen of humanity. The other man was simply acceptable. Barely even that. He was not taking full advantage of the opportunity spread out in front of him. How could he stand so close to Gavin, clearly being allowed to touch him intimately, and not have his mouth constantly on Gavin's body?

“Just fuck me,” Gavin snapped.

The other man laughed. “Pushy, babe?”

Gavin's retort was lost in his groan as the other man pushed his penis into Gavin's body. Gavin's fingers curled tighter against the wall. Nines could make out the thin lines of old scars across his skin. Gavin was breathing heavily, the mesh shirt stretching across his ribs as they expanded and contracted. There was a sheen of sweat across his skin.

Nines wanted to taste him.

The other man was moving now, pushing his penis deeper and pulling it out. Gavin was far from quiet, making grunts and groans as his body was shoved by the force of the other man's thrusts. He pressed his forehead against his bicep, dragging his other hand down to his penis and fisting it roughly. Nines couldn't see Gavin's face now, so he watched his hand, watched the slick glans disappearing and reappearing beneath his fingers. He growled again. Why wasn't the other man doing that? Why wasn't his hand between Gavin's legs, holding his penis and bringing him pleasure? Why was the other man more focused on grabbing Gavin's collar again, _biting_ him through the mesh of his shirt-

Gavin moaned and Nines’ eyes went wide. Oh. _Oh._ He needed to hear that sound again. His own fingers twitched. How easy it would be to step up to the copulating pair. He could pull the other man away, throw him down the hall, and take his place. It could be _his_ hands possessively running over Gavin's skin, _his_ mouth on Gavin's shoulder, _his_ penis pressed inside Gavin's body. He would do better by Gavin, though. He'd actually touch Gavin's penis himself, map out the length and determine the optimal pressure to grip him with, simulating penetrative sex with his hand for Gavin's pleasure as he filled his body the way Gavin was demanding.

Gavin's expression changed, tightened. He gave a breathless cry, and Nines watched as Gavin experienced an orgasm, ejaculating across his fingers and adding his own genetic markers to the wall he was pressed against. His partner, grunting behind him, muttered a “Yeah baby” into Gavin's neck before achieving his own orgasm. The sex act was over. Nines hadn't made a decision in time.

As Nines watched, Gavin pressed his forehead harder against his arm, then straightened up, pulling off the other man. The man grinned, tugging his condom off and tossing it aside. Gavin pulled his pants up, tucking his penis away, before he turned and leaned against the wall again. There was a lazy smirk on his face.

There were tears in his eyes.

They weren't on Gavin's face, and the curve of his mouth and the words he was saying spoke of contentment, but there were tears in his eyes, which now Nines could see were already reddened.

Gavin had been _crying_.

What had that man _done_!?

Nines let out a snarl that couldn't be camouflaged by the music this time as he stalked forward. Both Gavin and his partner jumped and stared at him.

“ _Nines_!?”

“Holy shit!”

Nines grabbed the other man by the arm, ripping him away from Gavin. The human's arm was so fragile beneath his fingers. If he squeezed, he could snap the bones and-

“Nines, _stop_!” Gavin's fingers were on his own arm, grabbing him, trying to pull him back. “Let him go! Don't fucking hurt him!”

“This _your_ monster!?”

Nines hissed and shoved the man away, turning his back. Not a threat. What was important right now was Gavin.

“Not exactly. We have an...understanding.” Gavin was looking up at Nines. He caught Nines’ hands and squeezed his fingers. “It's okay, Nines. I'm okay. He wasn't hurting me.”

Nines stared at his hands. Gavin's scarred fingers were wrapped around his for the first time. The right ones were sticky with his own semen. They were warm. Nines could feel Gavin's heartbeat in the veins beneath his skin.

Gavin pulled his hands away quickly. Nines’ hands felt cold. He curled his own fingers and brought his hands to his chest.

“Sorry,” Gavin muttered. “I know you don't like to be touched.”

“Fucking _freak_ ,” the other man spat. “That thing could of broke my arm!”

“Yeah? Count yourself lucky he didn't rip your muscle off,” Gavin sighed. “Look, just...get out of here. It was fun, now fuck off.”

Gavin wasn't even looking at the man he'd had sex with. He was looking at Nines.

“Freak,” the other man grumbled, but he was slinking away.

Nines reached out and touched Gavin's face at the outer corner of his left eye. He pressed, catching a tear on his fingertips, and withdrew, examining the drop.

Gavin sucked in a breath and then sagged, pressing his palms against his eyes. “Fuck. I am not nearly drunk enough for this…”

Nines made a questioning noise, but Gavin just shook his head. Nines touched his fingers to his tongue, analyzing the tear. Gavin's current blood alcohol content was too high for him to be legally operating a car or other heavy machinery, which would explain why he took an autocab. By Nines’ best estimate with Gavin's physical size and apparent metabolism, he should be in the 'drunk’ state of inebriation. How could he be not drunk enough?

“How did you even find me here?” Gavin asked. “Or do you just hang around gay bars in your...fuck, Nines, you're still covered in blood and shit. How the hell did they even let you in?”

Nines looked down at his jacket, examining it thoroughly. Blood, yes, that had stained and would not rinse off even in the heaviest of downpours. Fecal matter, however, was _not_ on his coat.

Gavin groaned, but it wasn't one of the pleasurable sounds he had made earlier. He gestured for Nines to follow him. “Come on. You can't stick around here, waiting to assault people who are innocently fucking...were you _watching_?”

Nines looked back at Gavin and nodded. Gavin cringed. “Don't fucking _watch_ people, okay? That's creepy!”

Nines had miscalculated again. Gavin was upset. He wasn't sure why. He picked up Gavin's discarded shirt and fell into step behind the man, following him out of the club.

Gavin shivered in the cool night air. The hair on his bare arms lifted in the cold, goose bumps appearing across his skin. Nines held out his overshirt. Gavin glanced at it, then took it, tugging it on. “Thanks,” he muttered. Nines nodded.

An autocab pulled up to the curb. Gavin climbed inside and glanced back at Nines. Nines glanced behind him, confirming that he was the one Gavin was waiting for, and ducked into the cab. Gavin pressed his hand to the payment panel, spoke his address, and slumped back in his seat. The cab took off smoothly.

The more Nines watched Gavin, the more he confirmed that something was very wrong with the man. Gavin kept shifting restlessly. Though that, admittedly, could be a result of the anal sex, he was also staring out the window and gritting his teeth. The amount of tension in his jaw was unhealthy. Then there were the tears. Gavin kept blinking, occasionally giving a sniff. Nines looked at his own fingers. Gavin's tears earlier had been tears of grief and loss, judging from the chemical structure. Nines had expected them to be of pain from the sex act, but they weren't. Had Gavin suffered a loss? Tugger? Had the cat died?

The cab stopped outside the apartment building and the door slid open. Gavin turned his head to look at the building, but he made no move to get out.

Nines looked between Gavin and the open door several times before he moved. He crouched in front of Gavin in the cramped space and offered the detective his hand.Gavin blinked and frowned at him, then at his hand. He reached up slowly and placed his hand in Nines’.

With a gentle tug, Nines coaxed Gavin out of his seat and out of the cab. Gavin let Nines lead him into the elevator and up to the eighth floor. Apartment 824. He stared at the door for a moment before placing his hand on the lock.

The apartment was quiet. Nines drew Gavin inside, glancing around. No Tugger. No Essie, either. At least Gavin had the sense to get her a babysitter before going to a nightclub.

Nines tugged Gavin into the bathroom. “What the fuck are you doing?” Gavin finally asked. Nines pointed at the tub. “I don't need a shower, Nines.”

Narrowing his eyes, Nines growled. Gavin stared at him for a moment before lifting his hands in surrender. “Fine, fine, I'll get in the tub!”

As soon as Gavin pulled off his boots and stepped over the rim, Nines turned the water on. Now it was Gavin's turn to hiss as the cold spray hit him. He glowered at Nines as he adjusted the temperature and peeled off his wet shirt. “Asshole.”

Nines stepped back, watching as Gavin dragged the wet mesh shirt off. Gavin threw the material at him, and Nines snatched it out of the air. “I'm not giving you another show. Go get me some dry clothes.” He pointed toward his bedroom.

Humans were much more susceptible to dampness and cold than androids were. Nines turned and left the bathroom. He heard the shower curtain clink behind him as it was drawn closed.

Tugger was curled up on Gavin's pillows. Nines froze in the doorway. Tugger was alive? Then...what was Gavin grieving?

The apartment was too quiet.

Nines picked up an assortment of clothes from Gavin's floor, which was apparently where he stored his laundry, and hurried down the hall to Essie's room. It was devoid of life. Essie's favorite dolls were missing from her bed. Nines’ LED shifted red, and he returned to the bathroom.

Gavin shut off the water and dragged a towel behind the curtain. When he pushed it open, the towel was wrapped around his hips. Nines offered him the dry clothes before pointing at the wall that adjoined Essie's room. He tilted his head to the side, LED circling red.

The pain on Gavin's face was not imaginary. Nines knew his thirium pump was securely fastened in his chest cavity, but it felt like it had plummeted through his body. He pressed his hand over his chest just to confirm it was still in place.

“She's gone home,” Gavin muttered. He pulled on the t-shirt Nines had given him, turning his back before drawing on the pants.

Nines didn't understand. He uttered a soft cry in the back of his throat, immediately flinching at the noise and pressing a hand against his neck.

_“RK900, run a diagnostic.”_

But he wasn't sparking with electricity, and his voice wasn't shorting out. Nothing _hurt_. Not physically.

“She wasn't my kid.” Gavin dropped the towel and pushed past Nines. Nines dogged his steps into Essie's room. Gavin picked up a picture frame that had been tossed face down in a corner of the room and held it out to Nines. A human couple Nines didn't recognize held Essie without her nose scar. Nines scanned the picture, identifying Kent Jones and Jill Easter Jones, a pair of prominent lawyers in the greater Detroit area. They frequently represented CyberLife and its CEO, Arthur Cunningham, but also had records of helping various criminals, usually ones with ties to CyberLife or its employees.

“They put in a claim for her. CPS picked her up today. She's their kid now.”

Gavin sat heavily on the bed. Nines sat beside him, putting the picture aside. The man was crying openly now, pressing his hand against his face. Nines hesitated, then reached out. His arm stiffly wrapped around Gavin's shoulders. Gavin tensed initially, but just before Nines decided to withdraw, the man turned and collapsed against his shoulder.

 

That was as much as Nines knew how to do, but it seemed enough. _A shoulder to cry on_ was a human saying. This seemed to be what it meant.

Nines stayed with Gavin until the man passed out. He carried Gavin into his own bed and tucked him in, then stood in the dark watching over him for another two hours. He could stare while Gavin slept. Gavin never complained about that.

Starting at Gavin did not give Nines any information he did not already have. He still felt warm in Gavin's presence, even when the man was passed out with the smell of alcohol still on his breath. Nines did not feel the heat from earlier, though there was still a lingering annoyance over how that other man had touched Gavin at the club. He had not engaged Gavin's attention fully. Gavin could have had a much more pleasurable experience of the other man had touched him correctly.

Not that Nines knew what “correctly” meant in that situation. He frowned, tilting his head to the side, LED spinning yellow as he began scouring the internet while Gavin slept. If the scenario ever arose again, he would be ready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This Saturday bribe chapter was brought to you by Akazia. Thank you, Akazia!
> 
> Even the smallest bribe can trigger a bribe chapter. It's the least I can do in return for you all. <3


	6. Unpleasant Reunion*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> There was a lot Gavin did not want to know.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beautiful art in this chapter is done by kao from the New ERA Discord!

Nines was gone by the time Gavin woke up with a throbbing headache. There was a glass of water beside his bed. Gavin _knew_ he hadn't been smart enough to do that before falling asleep.

Come to think of it...hadn't he fallen asleep on Essie's bed?

Jesus fucking Christ. Had he been adopted by another android?

Despite Nines’ attention on the one night Gavin had decided to go out and get drunk and laid, Gavin did not see the android again. Nines wasn't skulking around in the shadows outside (or if he was, he was skulking better than a white jacket should have allowed). He wasn't lurking near the station either.

Maybe he was hanging out by the club, waiting for Gavin to return to get another eyeful of him fucking some stranger sweet enough to look past Gavin's face. Gavin wouldn't know. He couldn't bring himself to return. It was easier to stay at home and not think about how fucking hot it had been for Nines to come snarling to a rescue he didn't particularly need or want...or how good it had felt to sob against a solid shoulder in Essie's empty room and have an arm around him, keeping him from being completely alone.

Gavin pushed through the first few days without Essie through grit and determination and too much cheap scotch and coffee. He felt constantly sick and refused to let anyone see, though Connor's LED went yellow every time he looked at Gavin, and Fowler had goddamn pity on his face.

Tina, bless her heart, acted as if nothing had changed, allowing Gavin to pretend life was normal, that Essie was just waiting at Markus’ for him to pick her up after work...but no, that wasn't real either.

“ _You!_ ”

Gavin lifted his head at the venomous hiss. Hank was escorting a couple through the station after questioning them about their case, and the woman had frozen and was staring straight at him. Gavin stared back. He knew that woman. Jill Jones.

Essie's mother.

And that was Essie's...was her real father. Kent Jones. But what were they doing here? Where was Essie?

“Where is she?” Jill demanded. “You rat-faced bastard, where the hell is our little girl? You took her, you snatched her from her bed, you sick, evil, pathetic excuse for a man!”

Gavin's face went white. “ _You lost Essie!?_ ”

“You took her!” Jill screeched. “You took our baby!”

“ _Mrs. Jones!_ ” Hank stepped between Gavin and the hysterical woman. “I'm sure Detective Reed has nothing to do with Marybelle's disappearance.”

“She wouldn't stop talking about him! He brainwashed her and then kidnapped her!”

“And our investigation will be thorough and include Detective Reed,” Connor said, smoothly stepping in. “I assure you, Mrs. Jones, your daughter is well-loved here. We _will_ find her. Now, if you please, time is of the essence. The first forty-eight hours are critical. Lieutenant Anderson and I need to examine your home for any lingering evidence.”

“This way,” Hank said, waving the Joneses through. Jill glared back at Gavin, her eyes promising pain, even as she was swept out the door.

Gavin set his cup of coffee down and stiffly crossed the bullpen. He shoved the door to Fowler's office open. “What the _fuck!?_ ”

“It's an android case. Hank and Connor are on it.” Fowler sighed, touching the window controls to fog the glass for privacy.

Gavin was breathing heavily through his nose, clenching his fists. “She's missing. She's fucking _missing_ and you didn't say anything?”

"The family is accusing you,” Fowler said.

“If I was going to kidnap Essie,” Gavin growled, “I would have done it before I ever let her go.”

“I know. I know you're trying to do right by her, Gavin. And that's why you can't be involved in this.”

“Can't be involved!?”

Fowler sighed, massaging his forehead. “If she turns up in your arms, it's only going to fuel their animosity toward you. I'm trying to protect you.”

“I haven't done anything wrong.” There was a ringing in his ears, and his head was throbbing again. Gavin hadn't drunk enough coffee today, and Fowler was telling him he couldn't even help look for his missing child? “I don't need protection.”

“Humor me, kid,” Fowler said, folding his arms across his desk. “Keep your nose out of this one.”

“Fuck you,” Gavin spat back, grabbing one of the chairs across from Fowler's desk and shoving it across the room. He stormed out of the office and made a sharp turn toward the interrogation rooms. Nobody was using room B right now, so Gavin pushed into the sound-proof observation room, slammed his fist into the table, and screamed into the darkness.

When he worked his rage out and was slumped in a chair, feeling drained and even more miserable than when the day started, Gavin shoved his aching hands through his hair, took a deep breath, and returned to his desk. He could be a fucking professional about this. It was only his daughter who wasn't actually _his_ who was missing, after all.

God, she had to be so scared…

“Do you have some time?”

Connor appeared at Gavin's desk just after six pm. By all accounts, Gavin should have clocked out already, or at least hit the gym, but he hadn't been able to focus. He barely realized what time it was, or how quiet the station was getting.

“I don't have her,” Gavin said. “I don't have any fucking idea where she is.”

“I don't believe she was kidnapped,” Connor said. “My interpretation of the “crime scene” implies that she fled the house of her own volition.”

“She ran away,” Gavin interpreted.

Connor nodded. His LED was yellow. “Most likely to return to you. Please keep your eyes open. Markus has also sent word through the android networks. We will find her.”

Gavin took a deep breath, wishing that made him feel better. “So what do you want with me?”

“Your opinion, Detective.” Connor lifted the folder he was holding. It was a case file. Essie's. Gavin pushed himself to his feet. Connor smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.

The android took Gavin into one of the meeting rooms. He set the folder on the table before going to close the blinds. Gavin flipped it open, spreading photos out.

The Joneses had a very nice house. It had two stories, manicured lawn, historic neighborhood, hardwood floors and spacious rooms. The house was spotless, with a piano and high end appliances. There were photos of the young couple at various destination locations, a wedding photo, and a single family photo that was a larger version of the one they sent to Essie.

“Is this the only picture of her they have?” Gavin asked.

“The only one on display, though they had similar ones in an album going back to December 2035.” Connor returned to the table, resting his fingertips on the surface. “What are your impressions so far?”

Gavin picked up a photo of Essie's room. It was powder puff pink, with a gaudy brass bed and more ruffles and frills than Gavin had seen in his life. Even the _walls_ had frills. The only toys in the room were dozens of china dolls lining every flat surface. He mock-gagged. “This is everything she hates. Pink, girly shit. Give her a stack of Lego, and she'll be happy for hours. Not this crap.”

“Her closet.” Connor touched two fingers to a photo and slid it out of the pile. The closet was full of poofy dresses, the sort with sixty billion skirts that made it look like you were wearing a cloud. “Her dresser.” He slid more photos out, each of her drawers opened up and showing off the ribbons and lace and bows and costume jewelry.

 

Gavin frowned. Everything in those drawers was frilly and pink or white. Where were all her purple shirts? Her Elsa underwear? Gavin remembered helping her pack as much as they could into that plaid suitcase.

Come to think of it… “Didn't get a shot of her underwear drawer?”

“She didn't have one.”

Gavin looked up sharply at Connor. Connor met his gaze evenly, steadily, his LED yellow.

“I know she has underwear,” Gavin said.

Connor tapped the picture of Essie's closet. The suitcase was up on a high shelf. He drew out another picture and set it in front of Gavin. The open suitcase was still full of everything he'd packed for Essie, her clothes, her dolls, her books...Even the outfit she'd been wearing when he last saw her was shoved in that case.

“How the fuck is she supposed to reach it up there!?”

“I don't believe she is.”

Gavin looked at Connor's flat, unaffected expression. He swallowed. “You have a theory. You're testing to see if I come up with the same theory.”

Connor said nothing. Gavin looked back at the pictures. There was definitely something niggling at his bullshit meter. “But you think she ran away.”

“Her bedroom window was open and there were abrasions on the tree outside, including a small smear of thirium matching YK400#355 134 330.”

Essie hurt herself on the tree, but she was out of the house. Why, then, was Connor focusing on the house?

Essie's room was over the top girly. It was like a doll's room, not a kid’s room. All of Essie's sensible things were packed away, including, apparently, all of her underwear. Gavin glanced at the photo of the family again. Essie was sitting on Kent's knee. His hands were hidden in her puffy skirts.

“This everything you found?” Gavin asked, not wanting his mind to turn down the dark road it was already on.

Connor lifted a sheet of paper from the file and handed it to Gavin. He recognized it as a report of multiple specimen scans, aka: shit Connor licked. This was a rundown of Essie's fancy dresses...and various semen or thirium-based lubricant stains Connor analyzed. The semen was all too degraded for a sample, but the lubricant had the same serial number. YK400#355 134 330.

“When you're reset,” Gavin asked, “do you retain your memories?”

“No,” Connor said. “All memories are deleted. However, like with any computer, there is still a chance for recovery if the storage has not been overwritten.”

“She remembers them,” Gavin whispered. “The frills, the pink, the _pigtails_. They're not just odd quirks. They're Essie remembering her past and being afraid.”

“Kent Jones was walking with a limp, favoring his left leg. I questioned him, and he said that he wrenched his hip while exercising.”

_“What if the new daddy is one of the people from the bad place?”_

_“You kick them as hard as you can in the balls, and you run straight to me.”_

“She nailed him.” Gavin covered his mouth with a hand, not sure if he should laugh or puke. He let those people take her without even trying to fight! “He tried something and she kicked him and ran.”

“We assumed that her genital modification had occurred at the warehouse. The age of the stains indicates that she had this modification prior to the warehouse.”

“She didn't come off the line like that, right?” Gavin asked. “CyberLife isn't _that_ fucked yet...right?”

Connor hesitated, his LED swirling. “This is not a customization CyberLife offers,” he said.

“I'm sensing a but…”

“Adult female androids are designed to have space for two...channels,” Connor said, making a gesture in his pelvic region. “Adult male androids only have space for one.”

“And kids?” Gavin asked.

“All YK models, regardless of gender, have the space for two,” Connor answered.

Gavin wiped his mouth, squeezing his eyes shut. “Sick. _Fucks_. Did Elijah…?”

“Elijah left the company before the YK design was finalized,” Connor assured Gavin. “He did sign off on some early designs, but the ones from his era had no empty space in their pelvic region.”

So at least Elijah really wasn't involved in Essie's abuse. Gavin took a deep breath. “Review what we know.”

“I am not letting them get their hands on Essie ever again,” Connor said. There was a dangerous undertone to his voice that reminded Gavin of Nines snarling in the darkness. Nines came from Connor. Sometimes it was easy to forget that the puppy-like cop and the hulking nightmare of dinosaur noises were cut from the same cloth, but sometimes Gavin looked at Connor and recognized that he was ultimately designed to hunt and destroy things stronger and smarter than mere humans.

Gavin was _so_ glad androids hadn't yet realized that they could be criminals.

“That much is a given,” Gavin assured Connor. “The moment I get her back, I am _never_ letting go. We should have realized they were evil from the start. _Marybelle_ , honestly!”

Connor smiled faintly. “I do believe I _did_ call that out…”

“Yeah, yeah, no one likes a show-off.” Gavin shifted through the images again. “Okay, solid facts. We've got the stains on the dresses, but no DNA?”

“Nothing I could recognize,” Connor said. “All of the samples belonged to a man with blood type B-, which matches Kent Jones.”

Gavin nodded. Circumstantial, but still something. “And we have...nothing else. It's all circumstantial. It _adds up_ to a nasty picture, but it's just a theory.”

“We know she had the modification before they “lost” her the first time,” Connor said. “There is no reason for that other than for penetrative intercourse.”

“We need Essie,” Gavin said. “Her testimony...but shit, I told her that if they were pedophiles, she'd come back to me. They could argue they were framed because she liked me better.”

“Essie is an android,” Connor reminded Gavin. “Her memories can be extracted and played with the same fidelity as a video recording.”

“We need Essie,” Gavin repeated. He had no idea where she was.

Apparently, Essie had no idea where _Gavin_ was. Another two days passed with no leads. Connor and Hank continued to humor the Joneses, trying to get as much evidence against them as they could manage. There wasn't much. Jill had a fondness for Lolita-style dresses herself, and had many that matched Essie's. They found some handcuffs, but as they were among other sex toys, it was hardly evidence.

Gavin yawned as he strode into the station on the third day, his largest travel mug full of black coffee in hand. There was sobbing coming from one of the meeting rooms.

Familiar sobbing.

The exact same sobbing that was muffled against his chest a week ago, when Essie didn't want to leave him.

Gavin didn't even stop at his desk. He shoved past Guy and Harper, beelining for the meeting room.

Crumpled in the far corner in a ball of snarled hair and floofy skirts, Essie was curled up and crying fit to burst, her LED an angry, pulsing red. Chris was crouched in front of her, trying to...sing to her? Whatever he was doing wasn't working. Gavin dumped his bag and mug on the table and dropped to his knees beside the little girl.

“Essie! Essie, kiddo, it's okay. I'm here. I'm right here.”

Essie lifted her head. She had a blue thirium bruise on her left cheek, and her tears were smeared across her face. “D-daddy?” The word came out as a garbled blubber, but Gavin understood it perfectly.

“I'm here, Essie. You're safe now.”

“Daddy!” Essie flung herself at Gavin, burrowing into his chest. He closed his arms around her, holding her close. She was battered and filthy, and she smelled suspiciously like dumpsters and cat piss, and Gavin didn't care because she fit just right in his arms where she belonged.

“Essie-Bess,” Gavin whispered into her hair. “My Essie. I love you. I love you so much.”

“You're my daddy,” Essie whispered back. Her little fingers were digging into Gavin's ribs and he didn't give a damn. “ _You_ are, just you, you're my real daddy!”

“That's right, Essie. That's exactly right.” It was not physically possible for Gavin to hold Essie any tighter, but he'd be damned if he didn't try.

Connor came in just after 9:30, during which time Gavin did nothing but hold Essie and reassure her she was safe and loved. Essie clung and cried, though her sobs eventually softened to little whimpers and her LED was mostly yellow. Her desperate clutch didn't loosen up one bit.

Gavin lifted his head from Essie's hair to look at Connor. He knew there was no threat from the android. Connor was just as convinced that Essie's parents were a danger to her, and he would not be trying to take her away from Gavin.

“Essie?” Connor crouched down beside the pair, his voice gentle. “Are you injured?”

Essie sniffed and lifted her head, showing Connor the bruise on her face. Connor's eyes hardened, and he reached out, fingers hovering just above her skin. “May I see?”

Essie looked at Gavin and then back to Connor, biting her lip and nodding. Connor brushed his fingers around her cheek, circling the wound with white fingers. Essie's own skin pulled back where he had touched, revealing her white plasteel face plate with a fist-sized web of fractures oozing thirium.

 

“This is android model YK400, serial number 355 134 330,” Connor said, his eyes focusing on Essie's face. He was recording this, Gavin realized, performing a witness interview in the least-invasive way he could manage. “Registered as both Marybelle Jones and Elsa Reed.”

“Essie,” she corrected. Connor smiled.

“Essie. Essie, can you tell me how you got hurt?”

Essie shifted closer to Gavin, pushing her good cheek against his chest. He ran his hand down her back soothingly. “Not-daddy hit me,” she whispered.

“Who is not-daddy? Do you know their name?”

Another squirm closer. Gavin tucked Essie beneath his chin, letting her take all the comfort she wanted from him. “Kent Jones. He's _not_ my daddy!”

“For the record,” Connor said, shifting his gaze to Gavin, “when Essie references her “daddy,” she is referring to Detective Gavin Reed, who served as her legal guardian between April 2039 and August 2039.”

Damn right she was. Gavin squeezed Essie tighter. She gave a little hiccup and nuzzled his throat.

“Essie, can you tell me what happened?” Connor asked. “How did you get hit?”

Essie shivered, closing her eyes. Her legs drew up, knees pressing beneath Gavin's ribs. He winced slightly as she found his kidney with the unerring accuracy of little girls the world over, and slid his hand in to adjust her angle just a few degrees.

“Not-daddy...Kent Jones came in to say good night. He kissed me on the mouth. It was yucky! He stuck his tongue in my mouth and I bit it and he said I was a bad girl and that wasn't right.”

Gavin forced himself to not growl, or clench his fists, or say any bad words that Essie could add to her list. He smoothed his hand over her hair and focused on his breathing as Essie kept talking. Her voice was fairly steady, but her LED pulsed with the occasional ring of red light and her fingers were twisting Gavin's shirt into knots.

“Then he put his hand under my dress and he got mad and said “What's this?” And I said it was my Elsa panties and he said that I didn't have panties and I said it was the ones my daddy bought me and he said he was my daddy and then he tried to grab them and I kicked him in the balls! And then he hit my face and it hurt and I started to cry and he said good girls didn't get hit so I kicked him in the balls again and he made a noise like _guuuurk_ and he fell off the bed and I ran to the window and climbed out and down the tree and I scraped my hand, Uncle Connor!”

Gavin closed his eyes and took a deep breath, hugging her again. “That's my girl,” he murmured against her hair. “That's my strong, brave girl.”

“May I see your hand?” Connor asked. His LED was red, and his eyes were cold, but his voice was still warm and gentle.

Essie squirmed, clutching at Gavin's shirt and tilting her head back to look up at him. Gavin pressed a kiss to her forehead. “It's okay, kiddo. I won't let you go.”

Essie nodded, tugging her left hand free and showing it to Connor. There was a small cut across the palm. Connor did his white-finger thing again to pull Essie's skin away to examine the injury. It looked like a small puncture wound, not nearly as bad as the cracks across her face.

“When did you run away, Essie? What day?”

“Um…” Essie tucked her hand back against Gavin's shirt. “Sunday.”

“The 21st?”

Essie nodded. Gavin took another deep breath. Today was Friday. Essie was reported missing on Tuesday. They didn't even report her absence immediately!

Connor curled his fingers into a fist and touched his knuckles against the floor. It was the most controlled anger punch Gavin had ever seen, and it made him want to laugh. He just wanted to laugh about everything, even though none of this was funny. Hysterical. He was feeling hysterical. He closed his eyes and pressed his cheek to Essie's head. “Essie needs a bath,” he said. “Badly. Let's wrap this up so she can get cleaned up.”

“Do you have spare clothes for her?” Connor asked.

“At home, yeah,” Gavin said. “I can, uh...Tina can go grab some. She's got a spare key.”

Connor nodded. “Let's send for those. Essie, we’re going to need to process your clothes and body for evidence, okay?”

Essie looked between them. “Do I have to let go of Daddy?”

“Not if you don't want to,” Connor promised.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is not a bribe chapter. It's Monday's chapter, but my cat demanded he was the center of attention, stepped on my phone, and posted it for me.
> 
> Oh well. Enjoy!


	7. Three Guys Walk Into a Bar*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And they get into a fight.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kao from the New ERA Discord provided the art in this chapter!
> 
> FBI Special Agent Anne Shapiro belongs to Estora. Go check out her amazing [stories!](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15536988/chapters/36067569)

While Connor dealt with Essie, Hank, it turned out, had been working on Fowler, presenting the evidence they had already gathered, as well as Connor's concerns at how CPS had completely failed Essie, removing her from a home that was safe and placing her in a home that had predators. Markus had added his voice to the mounting pressure, expressing concern about the welfare of the eleven other android children CPS had placed in supposedly safe homes and wanting follow-up checks from android social workers to ensure their actual safety.

Long story short, the two of them launched an attack on Fowler that cut through the red tape and crippled his argument for trying to keep Gavin out of Essie's case. He had protective custody of her once again, and this time, he wasn't waiting any arbitrary length of time. He filed for her adoption immediately.

The Joneses were not making things easy. They had been notified that Essie was found and were furious they were not allowed to take her home. The couple were a pair of vicious lawyers in a prestigious law firm. Every step of the investigation against them was dogged by litigation and they were trying to press lawsuits for kidnapping and defamation. Essie crawled into Gavin's bed every few nights, crying and shaking with nightmares. Gavin stood in her doorway other nights, watching her sleep with Tugger curled against her chest, reassuring himself that she was safe. Leaving her with Markus during the day was one of the hardest things he had to do, even after Markus assured him that he was not as soft as he looked and was more than capable of defending Essie if the need arose.

Life continued on. The start of the school year was approaching. Gavin had enrolled Essie in the second grade, but now he wasn't so sure if that was the best idea. Could the school protect her if Kent or Jill Jones tried to take her away? What if they just tried to hurt her? Had they ever dealt with a student whose battered face had been instrumental in securing the freedom of her people?

“Detective Reed?”

Gavin glanced up at Connor. The android looked concerned, and his LED was yellow. “What the hell do you want?” he snapped.

“I am worried about your mental health,” Connor began. Gavin huffed a dark laugh.

“My mental health is just peachy.”

“You seem to be under an excessive amount of stress,”

“No, _really_? What makes you think that?”

Connor's LED spun, but he didn't rise to the bait. Instead, he struck low, hitting Gavin in his vulnerabilities. “I'm concerned your behavior is affecting Essie.”

“Excuse you?” Gavin growled, pushing himself to his feet. Not that his height was really all that intimidating. Connor was three inches taller, and while he was just a scrawny slip of an android next to Gavin's human muscles, his strength wasn't dependent on how much he hit the gym.

Connor didn't even blink. Damn him.

“Essie's stress levels have been above 50% every day this week when you leave her with Markus. He reports frequent tears and breakdowns.”

“That's not because of _me_ , dipshit,” Gavin snapped. “That's because she's fucking terrified she's going to get hauled off by the Joneses at any minute! The sooner we can get those assholes behind bars, the sooner she’ll be able to relax.”

“It stresses you as well,” Connor said. “Your stress is feeding her stress.”

“In case you haven't noticed,” Gavin snarled, “I have a pair of rich, well-connected perverts stalking my kid. How the fuck am I supposed to _not_ be stressed right now?”

“Take the night off,” Connor answered.

“The fuck?”

“Take the night off,” Connor repeated. “Markus and I can watch Essie overnight, and you can do...whatever you need to destress. Hank suggested drinking. Chris advised a marathon in the gym. Tina suggested you get laid.”

Gavin had been skipping his usual gym sessions ever since Essie moved back in. He hadn't wanted to be away from her for any longer than he had to. Same with drinking. He didn't want to risk lowering his reaction times just in case.

He wasn't going to think about getting the last time he got laid. Nines coming snarling out of the darkness to rip his partner's arm off was the last thing that would help Gavin de-stress.

As much as he hated to admit it, a couple hours in the gym and then drowning in as much liquor as his liver could handle sounded like a great way to deal with the ever-present tension headache that had been building all week. Gavin hesitated, thinking about how Essie would clutch at him when she had nightmares.

“It would help me as well,” Connor said quietly. “I have not spent any casual time with Essie since she was recovered. I only see her when I am interrogating her. I would appreciate an opportunity to rebuild the familial bond we had.”

“You are a manipulative little shit,” Gavin said.

“The technical term is, I believe, _negotiator_ ,” Connor retorted with a smirk.

Gavin shoved his hand into his hair. He wanted to. He wanted Essie. If anyone could keep her safe, it was Connor. He didn't have to worry about her if Connor was there. Connor was itching for a chance to catch Kent Jones trying to get his filthy fingers on Essie again just as much as Gavin was. It would only be one night. A sleepover. Little girls had sleepovers all the time, right?

“I guess...if Essie's okay with it, you can have her for a night,” Gavin said. “But only if she wants it. And if you let _anything_ happen to her, I will dismantle you circuit by circuit.”

“Markus has already asked Essie,” Connor said. “She wants her puppy pajamas to match Sumo.”

“Little. Shit.” Gavin jabbed his finger into Connor's chest. “Fine. I'll pack her a bag and drop it off this evening.”

Essie hugged Gavin tight when he dropped off her overnight bag at Hank's. She was wearing a pair of fuzzy gray socks with white polka dots and had to show him how she could slide across the kitchen floor (and subsequently crash into Markus, who was apparently cooking dinner for Hank). Hank invited him to stay, but Gavin could hear footsteps coming up the drive behind him. Special Agent Anne Shapiro, of the FBI, gave him a polite smile and a nod. Gavin nodded back. He knew the woman from working with her on the warehouse raid that freed Essie. Shapiro was an expert in sex crimes, especially those involving children. He'd remembered she transferred to Detroit to head the field office after Perkins got canned for betraying Markus.

He'd forgotten the washed up old police lieutenant had bagged her as his girlfriend.

On the one hand, Markus and Connor and Hank and Shapiro all in the same house meant that Essie was the most protected child in the world right now.

On the other hand, it meant dinner tonight was a double-date and there was no way in _hell_ Gavin was going to be the fifth wheel, not even for the love of his daughter.

Gavin turned down the invitation, kissed Essie's forehead, and headed out to the gym.

Three hours later, he was sorely regretting his decision. His body felt like a wet noodle, and this bar didn't serve anything that wasn't deep fried. Markus had been making something that smelled like fish. Was the fish here worth the risk? Probably not. Chicken? Probably safer. Still not worth it. Another Jack and Coke would work. Gavin glanced up and caught the android server's eye and rattled the ice in his glass. The android gave a nod, registering his request.

While waiting for his drink, Gavin got up to take a leak. On his way back to his table, he saw a trio of humans cornering the android, shoving at his shoulders and pushing him back, away from the bar. Gavin growled under his breath and approached them. He was hungry and frustrated and slightly drunk, and the android was just trying to do his job.

“Hey! Leave him alone.”

“This is none of your business, asswipe.”

One of the men glanced at him. Shit, they had a knife out? Gavin narrowed his eyes and flipped his jacket open, showing off the badge clipped to his belt. “DPD. You got a problem with this gentleman?”

“Gentleman? It's a fucking bucket of bolts!”

“ _He_ is an person trying to do _his_ job, which involves getting me another drink. So pretend like you were just stupidly proud of your knife collection and trying to show it off, put it away, and get the fuck out of here.” Gavin looked at the drink the android was holding. “That one mine?”

The android nodded, offering the glass to Gavin. His hand was shaking. Gavin accepted it and took a sip. “Perfect. Thanks.”

“Android faggot,” the man with the knife snarled.

“Fuck, _really_?” Gavin asked. “It's 2039, you inbred piece of possum shit. Come up with a better insult.”

The thing about a police badge was that while it _looked_ like a shield, it was only about three inches tall and did jack shit when it came to actually being protection. The power of the badge came from the person holding it and how little they let their aggressor see their fear. Gavin stared down the three men, each one taller than he was, and calmly took another sip of his drink. He was silently issuing a challenge, daring the men to start something with a cop.

They folded. Sneering and growling, the three backed off and skulked toward the door. The android beside him sagged a little, wrapping his arms around his chest. “Thank you, Officer.”

“It's Detective,” Gavin said with a shrug. “And don't worry about it. You've got just as much right to live as they do. Thanks for the drink.”

The android nodded, and Gavin went back to his table. The android brought him a slice of chocolate cake, which Essie would have loved but Gavin ate because he was still starving. His eyes were drooping by the end, though. He needed to get home.

“Fuck, I'm old,” Gavin muttered as he finished paying his surprisingly small tab and pushed himself to his feet. It was barely past ten, and he'd only had three drinks. Why was he so fucking tired?

He got his answer six feet outside the door. As he staggered into the corner of the building, grabbing the wall for support, the three idiots from earlier came out from the alley, grinning at him. They all had knives now.

“Fuck,” Gavin mumbled, struggling to keep his eyes open. “You shits drugged me…”

“We were told you were clever, Detective.”

“We were also told no one would even notice a few more cuts added to your face.”

 _Were told?_ The fuck? Was this some sort of hit? And oh, Gavin's knees were threatening to buckle. Fuck. He was going to fucking fall asleep in front of a group of thugs about to rearrange his face.

They didn't even have the decency to attack while he was awake. Gavin pressed his back against the wall, struggling to keep his eyes open, looking between the three men who were pressing closer and grinning.

A snarl reverberated down the alley, deep and guttural, raising the small hairs on the back of everyone's necks. It was ancient and primal and it had a cyberpunk whine and Gavin started to laugh. He let his knees fold, the wall controlling his collapse. That sound of nightmares meant he was safe. Probably.

“What the hell was that?” one of the men demanded.

“My hero,” Gavin slurred as Nines came barreling out of the alley, a vision in a bloody CyberLife jacket and bared teeth.

The guy who had the knife inside slashed at Nines. Nines blocked with his hand and caught the blade between two fingers. With a twist of his wrist, he'd disarmed the man and flung the knife away so hard it sunk two inches into the brick wall of the bar. Fuck, that was _hot_. Gavin groaned, tipping his head back against the wall behind him, unable to take his eyes off his own avenging angel.

The man Nines had disarmed was backing away, a dark spot spreading down the leg of his pants. Gavin continued to laugh as Nines _roared_ and lunged and the three men took off running.

“Nines…” Gavin stretched out his hand in what he hoped was the android's direction. He was a puddle on the ground now, his eyes barely cracked open. “You're so cool…”

Footsteps approached. After enough time for Gavin to start to doze, there were hands on him, on his shoulders, an arm sliding beneath his legs. Gavin grunted as he was picked up, his head lolling against a firm shoulder. He hoped this was Nines. It would be really stupid if he was being carried off by one of the thugs. “You stink,” he mumbled. There was a growl in response, a vibration he could feel in his chest. Yup. Nines. He was safe.

 

Gavin honestly remembered nothing that came after that. His next conscious thought was that he needed a hole in his head to relieve the throbbing pressure in his skull. His mouth tasted like cotton and ass. Gavin groaned, dragging his arm across his eyes before he risked opening them. Room seemed fairly dim. He let his arm fall away and immediately felt his heart seize up.

Cool gray eyes were staring back at him from just over the edge of his bed.

“Jesus fucking Christ on a _brisket_!”

Nines’ LED went red and Gavin rolled into his back, clutching at his chest. “Don't fucking _do_ that!” Oh god, moving had been a mistake. The room swung around him and his stomach twisted. He moaned his distress, grimacing.

A cool glass pressed against his cheek. Gavin cracked his eyes open. Nines was standing up now, holding a glass of water. Oh, that sounded good. Gavin closed his eyes and held his breath, shimmying up his bed so he could lean against the headboard. He risked another look. The room stayed fairly level. Okay. He accepted the glass from Nines and drank the whole thing in one long chug.

The water helped. Not immensely, but it helped. Gavin took a shaky breath as Nines plucked the glass from his fingers and replaced it with a box of crackers. “Thanks…”

Nines nodded, turning smoothly and heading out the door. Gavin stuffed a few crackers in his mouth before shoving himself out of bed and trailing after the android.

He did not remember making it home last night, but this was definitely his apartment. His jacket was hung by the door in its usual spot. He _definitely_ hadn't done that last night.

Nines frowned at him from the kitchen, where he was refilling the glass. Gavin shrugged, dropping into a chair at the table. “I'm a big boy. I can walk around my own home if I want.”

There was a bag on the table with a knife in it. Gavin picked it up. It looked familiar… “Is this the knife you flung into the wall!?”

Nines nodded, setting the glass down in front of Gavin. He picked up Gavin's tablet, unlocking it with a touch, and held it out, then moved to the fridge.

The knife was bagged and tagged as evidence as best as Nines could manage with the supplies in Gavin's apartment. Gavin shoved another cracker in his mouth and examined what Nines had done to his tablet.

Photos. Clear, crisp photos of the faces of all three men from last night, complete with their public stats and any criminal records in perfect CyberLife Sans. There were also videos of the men surrounding Gavin and of the brief altercation Nines had with Pisspants (name: Jared Reynolds, 29 years old, arrested for a variety of petty crimes over the past ten years, but always managed to wriggle out of a conviction in a trial), both from Nines’ point of view.

Nines, feral loner Nines, who seemed terrified of any and all meaningful connections, had interfaced with his tablet to provide an airtight witness statement for Gavin's assault last night. Why was that the sweetest fucking thing Gavin had heard of today? He swiped again and found a toxicology report like the type Connor created when he analyzed fluids. This one was of _him_.

And yep, aside from the alcohol he knew he drank, there were traces of GHB in his...saliva? “...do I want to know how you analyzed me for this?” Gavin asked.

Nines set a plate in front of Gavin with three cold hot dogs on it and handed him a fork. He then shoved his finger into Gavin's mouth, pulled it out, and licked it.

Gavin gaped at him. “Christ, warn a guy first!”

Nines tilted his head to the side, LED swirling yellow. Gavin sighed, stabbing one of the hotdogs. Great hangover breakfast, huh? “Well? Am I still drugged?” Nines shook his head.

It was funny. For all that Nines had the _exact same face_ as Connor, Gavin rarely saw their similarities. Nines had a bad case of resting bitch face, while Connor's default expression had a warm glow that was not quite a smile. Connor was always perfectly presentable, whether he was wearing a suit at work or something slightly more casual at home. Nines always wore the exact same filthy CyberLife uniform, complete with glowing android markings, covering every inch of his skin from his jaw down except for his hands. Connor was always fidgeting with his hands, playing with a coin, rubbing his fingers together, gesticulating as he spoke. Nines was motionless when idle, tucking his right hand behind his back, left hand loose at his side.

Nines was an investigative android just as sharp and kitted out as Connor, if not more so. He was probably programmed with all standard police procedures. He'd done everything except file a report on the incident last night.

“You are _wasted_ on the streets,” Gavin muttered. “If you ever want a job, I know Fowler's trying to recruit more androids. Connor's kept busy and pulling overtime to handle all the android related cases.” He glanced up at Nines. “You would need to get some new clothes, though.”

Nines’ lip curled as he snarled, his left arm folding across his stomach. Gavin shook his head. He had no idea why the android was so protective of his uniform.

Maybe it was the scars? Gavin glanced up again, skimming his eyes across what little skin _was_ visible. He knew Nines was badly scarred from what Connor had told him, but the only mark Gavin had seen was a fernlike scar on the back of Nines’ right hand...and ah. There. Nines turned to look at Tugger's ‘feed me now’ dance, and Gavin could see another line of damaged skin slipping up into Nines’ hairline from beneath his high collar.

 

Gavin rubbed his nose thoughtfully. It had taken him a good ten years before he'd perfected his pretense that he didn't give a fuck about how slashed up his face was. School had been particularly miserable. Kids were vicious, and when the gash across his nose was still fresh and pink…

Well, ‘Twatface’ was the nicest of his nicknames.

He'd gotten used to his face over the years. It differentiated him from Joshua Kamski's mugshot. It lent credence to his badass act when he was at work. It made getting laid harder, but he compensated for that by keeping his body in peak condition. And lately…

Lately a little android girl with a damaged nose made him feel like his prominent facial scar was his best feature. Because it made them match. Because it marked them as family.

Nines didn't have any of that. Nines was kept chained up like an animal for god only knew how long before Gavin freed him last month. Connor reacted poorly to failure. _I'm supposed to be better than this._ Maybe Nines was the same. Maybe Nines looked at his scars and was ashamed that he wasn't perfect and pristine, the newest state-of-the-art android to emerge from CyberLife's bowels. He certainly hid his damaged hand whenever possible.

Gavin couldn't to anything to fix Nines’ scars, but he _could_ find the android a fresh turtleneck. Maybe Nines would change his clothes if he could remain covered up.

After everything Nines had done for Gavin, it was the least Gavin could do in return.

Nines crouched down beside Gavin and touched his hand to the tablet, flicking back to the photo of Pisspants. He touched the description and scrolled through it, then tapped to highlight some words. Gavin leaned in to read what Nines was pointing out.

Kent Jones. Gavin's eyes widened. Kent Jones was the lawyer who Pisspants hired to get him out of his arrests. “We were told,” Gavin muttered. “Fucking hell. This is about Essie.”

Abandoning the remnants of his hotdogs, Gavin patted his pockets down and then went to his jacket for his phone. He dialed Connor's serial number, drumming his fingers against his thigh.

“Good morning, Detective Reed. How was-”

“How's Essie?” Gavin demanded, cutting off Connor's greeting.

Connor was silent for a moment. “Essie is fine. She's sleeping with Sumo right now.”

“Are you sure?”

“I'm looking right at her. Would you like me to wake her up?”

Gavin turned around, pressing his back to the wall. “No, that's fine, just...she's okay? Nothing happened?”

“She did slide into Sumo's side and fall over, but she sustained no damage. Did something happen to imply she might not be alright?”

Nines had followed Gavin out of the kitchen, watching him curiously. Gavin reached out for the android. He needed to hold on to someone. His heart was pounding and his head was aching and he just wanted Essie to never have to worry about real life monsters ever again. Nines stared at Gavin's hand, then reached out and clasped it loosely in his own. Gavin squeezed appreciatively. “Don't tell Essie this. Don't let her overhear it. I got jumped last night on my way home by some thugs with ties to Kent Jones.”

There was another long pause. When Connor spoke again, his voice was carefully measured and controlled. The android was _furious_. “Are you injured?”

“Nah, turns out your brother was stalking me. He stepped in and took care of things.” Gavin met Nines’ eyes. Nines blinked and looked away.

“Is anyone dead?”

“Unfortunately not.”

“Evidence?”

“Plenty. Photos, videos, a knife, a tox report… I'll bring it all in.”

“I'll let the lieutenant know. We'll add it to the case.”

“We have to wrap this up.” Gavin tipped his head back against the wall, closing his eyes. “This is getting ridiculous.”

“This is getting dangerous,” Connor murmured. “Be careful, Gavin.”

“Just keep an eye on Essie. Don't let her out of your sight.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A huge thank you to Bearamy for allowing this bribe chapter! Thank you so much!


	8. Nines meets Jake*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remember Jake?
> 
> Jake from the warehouse?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, one of the art pieces is by the fantastic kao! You can find more of their work at the New ERA Discord!
> 
> The hand art piece is by the amazing tirrathee, who can be found at their tumblr: tirrathee.tumblr.com
> 
> The chibi art was done by Mysterythrix, also from the discord server!

Essie was back with Gavin. Nines had been watching the drama play out from afar. He had searched for the girl when she went missing and had nearly caught her, but she had realized she was being followed and slipped away through a hole in a wall too small for Nines. He hadn't been able to call out to her, his own irrational fear of speaking getting the better of him.

Something had happened with Essie's legal parents. They were unsuitable, and Gavin was her guardian again. Nines was relieved when he went to check on Gavin one day and saw him emerging from the police station with Essie wrapped in his coat and his arms. Gavin was an incredibly soothing presence, and Essie's stress levels were dropping just by being near him.

Nines’ stress dropped around Gavin too. He couldn't explain it. Gavin was chaotic and abrasive, with a foul mouth and poor interpersonal skills, but he had a sixth sense for fear in androids and tried to minimize their triggers. Nines felt _safe_ near Gavin.

Feeling safe scared him itself. Nines sometimes watched Essie tuck herself against Gavin's side, beneath his arm, and wished that he could do the same. He wanted to know what it felt like to trust someone that completely. He didn't think he could.

The closest he'd come was carrying Gavin back to his apartment after the man had been drugged. Gavin was asleep in his arms, and Nines hadn't wanted to put him down. He liked the warmth of Gavin's body pressed against his own, the feel of his heartbeat, the rhythm of his breathing. Gavin was alive, and helpless, and Nines could have done _anything_.

He'd put Gavin to bed and given him all the evidence he could on the assault. What else _could_ he do?

Nines leaned against a wall and lifted his hand to study his fingers. He'd analyzed Gavin's saliva for the toxicology report. He'd used his hand to collect the sample.

He could have used his mouth.

Gavin had been passed out, his lips parted. It had been easy for Nines to touch his mouth with one finger, to push inside and feel the wet heat, the flutter of his breath, the soft give of his tongue.

Nines could have used his mouth, could have kissed Gavin while he slept.

He didn't. He was scared. Kissing was important to humans. Special. What if Gavin had found out? What if he'd gotten mad? Gavin was the one bit of good Nines had find, the one person he kept coming back to. The last thing he wanted to do was risk it all on a kiss.

He did risk it on another analysis. Nines had taken a sample of Gavin's DNA and he wanted more. He had taken a chance when Gavin questioned him, pushing his finger past Gavin's lips. Gavin had shouted in surprise but not anger. He'd accepted Nines’ gesture as part of the case.

Nines shouldn't have done that. Once was sating curiosity. It was gathering required data for a case (he wasn't an officer of the law. He didn't have cases). Once was excusable.

Twice made it a pattern. Twice made it repeatable. Twice made Nines _want_ to repeat it. He wanted to touch Gavin's mouth. He wanted to run his finger over the boundary between lips and skin and feel the difference beneath his sensors. He wanted to press inside again, take the opportunity to explore Gavin's mouth fully. He wanted Gavin to know, to watch, to pull his hand away and press their mouths together, letting Nines use his far more sensitive tongue to map out all the soft places the detective hid.

He _wanted_.

Nines touched his fingers to his tongue. He couldn't taste Gavin anymore. It had been six days since he left Gavin's apartment, six days since he analyzed the detective.

Six days of checking to make sure he couldn't sense Gavin on his skin.

He wanted to sense Gavin again. Not just recall the data, but experience it fresh.

A door down the street opened and Nines immediately shoved his musing aside. His obsession with Gavin's mouth would have to wait.

Gavin was attacked by three men who had clearly been targeting _him_. The obvious motive was the tie their ringleader had with Kent Jones, the man who had originally purchased Essie. The Joneses were not happy that Gavin was the guardian for Essie once again. If they were upset enough to hire thugs, they were perhaps upset enough to try something more desperate.

Nines had hunted down their home and watched them. He couldn't trail both, so he had focused on Kent. Kent had gone _here_ , to an illicit android repair shop run by one Jacob “Jake” Wannamaker. A quick search of Jake's records revealed that he had been arrested during the DPD raid on the underground android fighting ring, but he'd ended up without a conviction because nobody could prove he had been knowingly performing work on stolen androids. According to Jake, all of the androids he had modified and repaired had been salvaged from a junkyard.

Nines read between the lines enough to realize that Jake was the human who had fucked up Connor's body.

When Nines first met Connor, the older android couldn't speak and could barely walk. His processor was a ravaged mess of pieced together programs, and there were several unorthodox body modifications leaving his core incredibly vulnerable. Connor had since found his way into a much better preserved body, and his processor was upgraded to an RK900's model. He was much less off-putting to be around now, though Nines still shied away from his older “brother.” Connor was far too curious and perceptive. Nines knew: he was the exact same. For as much as he itched to know what had happened to Connor to put him in that situation with the vandalized body, he knew Connor was desperate to know the same about his own half-melted form. The RK800 would trade answers for answers, but Nines wasn't ready to share them. He doubted he ever would be.

But Connor had been hurt by Jake. Jake had been visited by Kent. Kent had threatened Essie's safety. Essie's safety was Gavin's top priority. Gavin's safety was Nines’ current objective.

And that was why Nines was lingering outside the repair shop, waiting and watching.

Jake eventually emerged just after two in the morning. He was _huge_. Nines blinked. Jake was 6’6”, according to his record, but Nines hadn't realized how tall that actually was in a person. Nines was only 6’2” himself. Jake was also easily four times heavier than Nines. He moved like a tank, a slow advance with an absolute confidence that anything in his way would not remain in his way.

Nines slunk along behind the man, keeping to the shadows. They went two blocks down the road, and then Jake glanced around and turned into an alley. Nines hesitated before following.

Jake was gone. How was that possible!? Nines bared his teeth, taking a few steps in.

A pile of trash bags stirred and moved behind him and Nines immediately felt a stab of failure for not noticing the simple disguise. He turned slowly, growling under his breath.

Jake heaved himself back to his feet, his small eyes running up and down Nines’ body hungrily. “No way...an RK900! Look at you, you're even more amazing than the prototype!”

Nines let his growl grow in volume, but Jake took a step closer. Nines didn't attempt to move back. This alley had a dead end. He was trapped between a brick wall and a big man.

Jake reached out and caught his wrist. Nines yanked it back and hissed. Jake just chuckled. “Oh come on now, pretty boy. None of that. You're gonna come with me one way or another. You might as well cooperate.”

Jake's fingers closed around Nines’ wrist again, and Nines lashed out, his fist sinking into Jake's side. The fat covered a layer of muscle, and Nines could feel the force of his blow dissipating across Jake's body before it could strike his liver.

“No? Okay then.” Jake grabbed a stick clipped to his belt. With just a flick of a switch, the telltale whine of a capacitor was followed by the crackle of electricity arcing up the length of the baton.

Nines backed away, hissing. Jake grinned and advanced on him. “Say good night, RK900.” He swung.

The baton caught Nines across the arm. Multiple arcs of the electricity jumped from the baton to Nines body, racing through the thirium in his veins and scorching his circuits. Nines tried to scream, but his voice synthesizer was shorting out, sparks stabbing into his throat. His fingers clenched, body spasming.

__

 

_No._

_NO._

**_NO!_ **

Nines forced his body to move, fighting the electricity rippling through his wires. He was an RK900 model, more resilient than any who came before. He would _not_ fall to a simple stun baton!

With a shout of terror, Nines surged forward, flailing blindly. His vision was swarmed with error messages. Every inch of his body was consumed with a burning pain. His hands clamped on something hard and round, and he _squeezed_. There was screaming in counterpoint to his own, barely audible under the buzzing in his ears, and then the bone beneath his hands collapsed. There was a spray of a hot fluid across him and the body, along with the stun baton, crumpled.

Nines crumpled too, gasping and whining, sparks making his body twitch as the electricity flowed away, into the ground. Nines continued to shiver as his overheated processor attempted to regain control. One by one, his systems were shut down and restarted, his body slowly returning to his control.

His optical sensors were the last to restart. Nines blinked, dismissing the last of the error messages. He rolled over and pushed himself to his knees. Jake was lying in front of him, headless, a pool of blood soaking into his clothes. Nines looked down at his own clothes. Jake's blood was a fresh red stain across his white coat, dripping across Nines’ face and coating his hands.

 

_“No more killing people,” Gavin hissed, getting up close in Nines’ face while the android still hung from the machine at CyberLife Tower. “I don't let murderers near my daughter.”_

Nines moaned, soft and low, hunkering down. He reached out, his hand shaking, and prodded at the corpse. Jake was definitely dead. His head was crushed, bits of skull and brain spattered across the alley and squishing between Nines’ fingers. He'd killed. He'd _killed_ , the one thing Gavin asked him not to do, the one thing Gavin wouldn't forgive. He'd killed a human, and he no longer had the defense of ‘just a machine’ to protect him.

He had to run.

No.

He had to apologize.

Nines ducked his head, closing his eyes and pressing his hands to his face. _Gavin._ He had to explain to Gavin. He had to apologize. He had to...He had to turn himself over to the police. He didn't mean to kill. He just wanted it to stop hurting. He just wanted to stop hurting…

It was half past three by the time Nines had managed to drag himself to Gavin's apartment, sticking to the shadows, trying not to be seen. He looked like something from a horror show, drenched in drying blood, shaking, stumbling, stopping every few blocks to clutch at a wall until he stopped thinking he could hear the whine of a charging stun baton.

Nines gripped his arm where the baton had made contact and moaned, then lifted his hand and rapped on the detective's door. Gavin used the chain and deadbolt at night. It didn't matter if Nines could hack the lock. He couldn't hack a chain, and he didn't want to break Gavin's door on top of murdering a man.

Time seemed impossibly slow for the 5.32 minutes it took to get Gavin's attention and for the detective to make his way to the door. Nines could hear Gavin's sharp inhale when the man saw what state he was in, but then the deadbolt clicked back and the chain rattled loose.

Gavin pulled the door open, gesturing for Nines to get inside. He checked the hall, then closed the door and relocked it. “ _What the hell?_ ” he hissed. “Nines, what the fuck did you do!?”

 

Nines opened his mouth. He shut it. He shivered. He ducked his head and closed his eyes, wrapping his arms around his chest.

“Shit. _Shit_.” Gavin raked his fingers through his hair. “Okay. Fuck. Okay. Stay _right there_. Don't you fucking move.”

Nines nodded miserably. Gavin backed away, then turned and hurried down the hall.

Though he was being quiet, Nines could hear what Gavin was doing by turning his audio sensitivity up. Gavin was talking to someone. He made a phone call.

“I don't have time to explain, just grab Markus and get your plastic asses to my place, _now_. Nines is in some deep shit.”

Connor. Gavin must have called Connor. Was Gavin going to make Connor interface with him? Probe his memories? Arrest him? He immediately began spinning up preconstructions on how he could take out the RK800 if it came to that...but then he let them all go and just hugged himself tighter. He'd come here to apologize to Gavin. He couldn't do that if he couldn't talk. Connor would at least be a way he could explain.

Gavin came back with jeans on, his phone in his hand. Nines glanced up as Gavin stopped 5.21 feet away and looked him over again. “Jesus Christ. Okay. Get...get in the kitchen and try not to drip on anything.”

Nines checked the blood on his coat. He didn't seem in danger of dripping anymore. He moved into the kitchen. Gavin followed, flipping on the light. “Stand in front of the fridge, arms straight down.” He lifted his phone, and Nines knew the detective was taking pictures of the blood. He bit his lip and complied with Gavin's orders.

“I'm not going to help you cover up a murder,” Gavin said, “so if that's why you came here, you made the wrong call.”

Nines shook his head. He wasn't looking to cover up what he'd done. He just wanted to explain himself to Gavin.

Gavin moved closer to Nines. He gingerly tugged on Nines’ sleeve, gray eyes focusing on the burn where Jake's baton had struck him. He took several more pictures, then leaned in and sniffed, pulling a disgusted face. “Urgh. Burnt plastic. Are _you_ injured, Nines?”

Nines looked down at Gavin standing so close to him. He could touch the man. He didn't. His hands were covered in blood.

Gavin had asked a question, though. Nines hesitated, then shook his head. He'd gotten a nasty jolt that had hurt, but it had been nowhere near the levels CyberLife would flood his body with. He hadn't even registered new weaknesses in his plating. Not a drop of his thirium had been spilled. Nines was scared and aching, but he was not injured _._

Gavin frowned at him, and Nines flinched, dropping his gaze. The detective sighed. “Connor's on his way over. I hope you can talk to him, because I don't want to be playing twenty questions with a murderer.”

Nines whined in the back of his throat, his stress levels rising. Gavin _was_ angry about this, Gavin was going to have him arrested, Gavin was...Gavin was squeezing his arm?

“Nines...I know you have more control than this. There's gotta be more to the story. That's why I called Connor. I just need you to stay calm and cooperative right now, okay?”

Gavin was trying to comfort him?

Nines closed his eyes and nodded. Gavin gave his arm another squeeze, then stepped away. Nines cracked his eyes open, watching as Gavin wet a cloth in the sink and then headed for the front door. He couldn't see what Gavin was doing without moving from his spot, but Gavin hadn't said he could move…

Nines remained where he was. A few minutes later, Gavin returned. Connor and Markus were following him. Both of the androids froze in the doorway, staring at the blood on Nines.

“Like I said, deep shit,” Gavin sighed. “Markus, can you keep an eye on Essie? She has school at eight, and I don't know how long this is gonna take...Don't tell her it's Nines. Just say I had a case.”

“Of course,” Markus murmured.

Connor stepped forward. He offered Nines his hand, skin peeled back. “Will you show me?”

Nines looked at Connor's hand, looked at his soft eyes, looked at Gavin. He knew the RK800 could be trusted. He should interface, should show Connor what happened, should put Gavin's mind at ease…

He couldn't. His hands curled against his chest, shoulders hunching up. He couldn't open himself up. Not to Connor. He didn't want Connor to see the ravages of his mind.

Gavin sighed. He was disappointed. Nines felt it like a stab to his thirium pump. He looked down again in shame. All he had to do was accept an interface. Connor wouldn't hurt him…

Connor touched two fingers to Nines’ skin. Nines flinched back with an angry hiss, backing into the refrigerator, but Connor was only taking a sample of the blood. Connor brushed his fingers against his tongue. His LED spun yellow as it analyzed, then red, bright red, and he stumbled back with a whine of his own, gagging and pawing at his tongue.

“Connor!” Markus moved quickly, catching Connor's hand and shoulder. He held Connor still, tugging his hand away from his mouth, and then reached up to rub his fingers over Connor's tongue. “It's okay, it's just a genetic sample, it can't hurt.”

“Do you need some water?” Gavin asked. Connor shook his head. “Whose blood is it?”

“It's…” Connor shook his head again, pressing one hand against his LED and squeezing Markus’ hand with his other. “Sorry, I just...wasn't expecting that. Nines...is he dead? Did you kill him?”

“ _Who?_ ” Gavin demanded, as Nines nodded miserably.

“Did he hurt you?” Connor asked. “Did he _touch_ you?”

Nines hesitated, then turned his arm to show Connor the burn on his sleeve. Connor inhaled sharply. “He _electrocuted_ you?”

“Fuck,” Gavin groaned. “Nines, you said you weren't injured!”

“Electrocution doesn't result in a loss of thirium,” Markus said. “Pain without damage.”

“So you got hurt,” Gavin said. “Was this,” he gestured at the bloody mess, “all self-defense?”

Nines nodded. He looked to Connor. Connor met his eyes and nodded.

“Detective Reed, do you remember the night you found me at the warehouse?” Connor asked. He wasn't looking at Gavin. He was holding Nines’ gaze and Markus’ hand.

“That isn't exactly something I'm ever going to forget,” Gavin muttered.

“Big man named Jake?” Connor closed his eyes and nodded toward Nines. “That's his blood.”

Gavin was quiet. Nines risked looking at him. The man had his jaw clenched tight, hands balled into fists. Nines lifted a hand to touch his shoulder, saw the blood on his fingers, and cringed back again.

“This the bastard who was modifying all the androids?” Gavin asked. Connor nodded.

“Fuck. Goddamn it.” Gavin pushed his hands into his hair. “A murder's a murder, even if he deserved it. We're gonna have to call this in. Nines, you're gonna take me and Connor to wherever this happened. Markus, stay with Essie and maybe look into a pro-android lawyer for Nines? If this is self-defense, he should be able to get off with a decent lawyer.”

Nines stared at Gavin, a disbelieving note of question slipping out of his throat. Gavin reached over, patting his relatively clean back. “If you were attacked by a guy trying to kill you, you're allowed to fight back. And if he electrocuted you, with your history, there's an argument there for your defense too. I'm not covering up a murder for you, Nines, but I'll help you as much as I can.”

Nines pressed his back against the refrigerator and let his shoulders collapse. Gavin wasn't turning on him. Gavin was still his ally.

Gavin studied Nines for a minute, then grabbed his phone and tossed it to Connor. “Get him processed. I already took photos. I want to get him cleaned up before we go to a crime scene.”

Nines watched Gavin leave the kitchen. He curled his arms around himself and glanced at Connor. Other than taking off his clothes, he would try to cooperate.

By the time Gavin returned, Connor had recorded the fingerprints on Nines’ wrist, the burn in his sleeve, and the blood spatter across his body. He had taken samples of the dried brain matter between Nines’ fingers and checked Nines over for any other transfers.

“We good to clean him up?” Gavin asked.

Connor nodded. “I don't believe there is any additional physical evidence on him, at least not for this incident.”

“Great,” Gavin said. “Call it in. Nines, come with me. I've got something for you.”

Nines glanced at Connor and Markus, but then he followed Gavin down the hall and into the bathroom. He hesitated when he saw Gavin had the shower running and shook his head.

“Hey. Look at me.” Gavin had his hands up. “Nines, I get that you're attached to your clothes. But they're filthy. _You're_ filthy.”

Nines shook his head again, taking a step back.

“I got you new clothes.” Gavin gestured to a pile on the toilet seat. “Layers. Long sleeves and high collars. Tried to get as close to your current style as I could.”

Nines hesitated, eyeing the pile of clothes. His uniform had decidedly seen better days. It did smell like old blood and stale rain. Gavin had commented on the stink while drugged out of his mind.

“Take a shower,” Gavin said. “Scrub the blood off your skin. Pick an outfit to put back on.” He gestured between the new clothes and what Nines was currently wearing. “I'm going to leave the room. You can lock the door. No one has to see anything, but you'll feel better if you're clean. I promise.”

Gavin stepped around Nines and left the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Nines blinked at it. Gavin hadn't reached for Nines’ clothes. He hadn't held out his hand. He hadn't stuck around to make sure Nines actually stripped. He'd just given Nines a choice and made a request.

Nines locked the door. It wouldn't actually keep Markus or Connor out if they were determined. It probably wouldn't even keep Gavin out, if Nines was being perfectly honest. It gave the illusion of security, and nothing more, but the illusion was better than nothing at all.

Nines took a step toward the new clothes. He reached out for them and hesitated, then went to the shower. He could put his hands beneath the warm spray, rubbing them together to get the blood off. That didn't require taking his clothes off.

Drying his hands on the navy towel hanging nearby, Nines picked up the pile of clothing and examined it. Gavin had provided him with an entire outfit. Long black socks that would probably reach his knees, blue boxer briefs, and a white t-shirt made up the underclothes layer. On top of that would go jeans made of a thick gray denim and a black turtleneck shirt with sleeves so long they had holes in the cuffs to slip thumbs through. Nines poked a finger through the hole. From its location, if he wore it, the sleeves would completely cover the scar across the back of his right hand.

Nines wanted to wear it.

Gavin had also included a white leather jacket with a high, stiff collar, though the turtleneck would cover more of his scars. The jacket did add durability to the clothes much like his reinforced CyberLife jacket.

The outfit was a human version of his CyberLife uniform. It included sturdy fabrics and full body coverage. Nines had no reason _not_ to wear it.

No reason other than not wanting to take his clothes off.

Nines eyed the shower. Gavin promised he'd feel better if he were clean. Nines hadn't been clean since he was new.

He wanted to be clean.

Nines took a deep breath and stepped into the shower fully clothed. The spray pattered against his hair and jacket. It ran down his shirt and soaked into his pants. Red-tinged water flowed out of his clothes and down the drain.

Clean.

Nines pulled his jacket off and let it drop.

He wanted to be clean.

Nines’ hands shook as he unbuttoned his shirt.

He wanted to be new again. Unstained. Unbroken. Perfect.

He couldn't be any of that.

But he could be clean.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to the anonymous briber! Your bribe chapter will go up tomorrow!


	9. New Threads*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin bought Nines some new clothes and hopes he'll change out of the bloody stuff.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You guys know the drill! kao made the first amazing art, and can be found at the New ERA Discord! Tirrathee made the second and can be found at https://tirrathee.tumblr.com!

Connor and Markus were interfacing, their white fingers interlaced together, when Gavin returned to the kitchen. Connor's LED was shifting between red and yellow.

“Sorry about that.” Gavin pulled the refrigerator open and snagged a can of Monster. He didn't check how old it was, he simply cracked it open and took a swig. Fuck, energy drinks always tasted like shit.

“Why are you sorry?” Connor asked, his dark eyes locking onto Gavin's face.

Gavin leaned against the counter. “I know your history with that bastard.” How could he not? Gavin was the one who'd pointed a gun at Jake's head while he was balls deep inside Connor's ass. He was the one who'd pulled the restraints off the android and wrapped his naked body in a blanket. It was his shoulder Connor was slumped against in the infamous photo that shook the world. Gavin knew what Connor had endured at Jake's hands. He knew exactly why Connor had reached so strongly to the sample analysis.

Connor's mouth flattened further, but he shook his head. “With that amount of blood loss, there's no way Jake is still alive. Nines had brain matter on his hands. I am relieved the man has been removed from this world.”

Gavin shrugged, forcing himself to chug as much of the sickly sweet, hyper-caffeinated beverage as he could. The faster he drank it, the sooner he'd stop yawning. “Still. Not the best four am wake-up call.”

“We weren't sleeping.”

“Yeah, rub it in.” Gavin rubbed his hand over his face. “Lucky bastards.”

“We do enter a stasis mode most nights, for minor repairs and system checks,” Markus said. His fingers were still laced through Connor's, and they were standing close enough for their hips to brush together. They weren't even trying to hide anymore. All those nights Connor ‘lost track of the time’ when talking with Markus… yeah, they were totally fucking.

Come to think of it, how did that even work? Androids had feelings, yeah, but did that extend to lust? They were fuckable, as evidenced by the Eden Club, but could they do the fucking? Well...yeah, they'd have to, right? There were male sex bots and male companion androids. If androids couldn't be used as sex toys by women too, there would have been a huge sexist uproar about it.

So androids could fuck and be fucked. They could love. They could be gay, clearly. Could an android love an human? Obviously, duh. Essie looked at him like he hung the moon, and he lived in terror that she'd one day find out he wasn't anything special. But could an android love a human romantically?

Did it matter? Gavin wasn't one for love. Hell, until Essie, he'd been content with the few co-workers he'd heckle, the occasional filthy fuck in the back of a club, and the unwavering love from Tugger whenever he had a pull-tab can in his hand. Gavin had quite firmly built a life around expecting no affection from others and not being surprised when that was exactly what he received.

And then Essie and her big eyes burrowed into Gavin's life and practically overnight he became addicted to her head pillowed on his shoulder and her thin arms wrapping around his neck. He was absolutely miserable the week without her, going so far as to break apart in Nines’ arms. _Nines_! The most emotionally stunted android in the world, and Gavin had cried into his chest like a baby.

It had been...nice. Not the crying bit. The bit where Nines had put his arm around Gavin and held him and let the rhythmic beating of whatever passed for his heart lull Gavin to sleep. That had been nice.

Shit. Gavin's fingers tightened on the can, denting the aluminum. Touch-starved, that's all it was. Didn't get enough hugs as a kid, thought he was fine until Essie got all snuggly up in his arms, so that's why he used an android as a fucking teddy bear.

But Essie was back now, and her hugs were the best in the world. Gavin was scared that Kent Jones might have ruined hugging for her, but the little android continued to hurl herself at Gavin like he was able to save her from drowning. Gavin could soak up hugs from Essie again, and he didn't have to worry about falling apart on Nines or anyone else.

As if summoned by the mere thought of his name, Nines stepped back into the kitchen. Gavin glanced his way and his mouth went dry.

_Nines was wearing the new clothes._

Gavin had purchased the outfit for Nines with the intent to match the look and purpose of the CyberLife uniform as closely as possible. When he'd added the white leather coat to the pile, he was sure Nines was going to wind up looking like a complete prick.

Somehow, the android made it work. More than made it work. The high collar framed Nines’ face, and the cut emphasized his broad shoulders and tapered waist. The stark white leather brought out the actual color in his pale eyes, a silvery gray with just a hint of blue.

And that was just the _jacket_. Gavin dragged his eyes across the turtleneck stretched tight across Nines’ chest and the way the gray jeans hugged his thighs and tried to swallow. Jesus. Fuck. “You look good,” Gavin managed to say, and he even managed to smile at the android, trying to give him positive reinforcement for getting clean.

Nines’ LED was red, though, and he was holding a bundle of wet fabric that Gavin recognized as his old CyberLife uniform. Connor grabbed a plastic bag from Gavin's counter and stepped forward, holding it out. Nines dropped the clothes inside, then tugged on his sleeves which were half covering his hands.

The android was hot as hell and practically shaking with his anxiety. Gavin set his can down and crossed the room. He seized the lapels of Nines’ jacket and tugged them straight, them smoothed his hands down the edges.

 

This was totally not an attempt to feel the android's pecs. He was trying to soothe Nines’ obvious discomfort. “You okay with this?” he asked quietly, looking up at Nines. Jesus. Why did he have to have a thing for bigger guys who could pin him against the wall?

Nines’ breathing stopped beneath Gavin's fingers, and Gavin quickly pulled his hands away. No touching without permission. Nines was a live wire.

Nines nodded, and it took Gavin an embarrassingly long time to realize he was answering Gavin's question. His LED was yellow now. Anxiety lowered. Good. Gavin stepped back but Nines caught his wrist.

 

Nines’ fingers were warm from the shower and his grip was gentle. This wasn't like the last time Nines had grabbed Gavin by the arm and ripped his muscle in two by sheer strength alone. Nines was just holding him, keeping him from moving too far away, his LED circling and circling. Nines opened his mouth and closed it again, frustration spreading across his face. Was he trying to thank Gavin?

Gavin smiled after the silence stretched out, patting Nines’ chest again. Goddamn. If Nines were a flesh and blood man Gavin had run into at a club, he would absolutely be trying to climb Nines like a tree.

Or not, actually. Gavin studied Nines’ face: sculpted perfection, artistically dotted with freckles and moles, his hair styled back except one loose lock begging to be brushed aside. Nines had the face of a model and the body of a statue, and if Gavin ran into him at a club, he'd silently hate the man for being too goddamn perfect and _way_ out of Gavin's league.

It was Nines’ anxiety, actually, that brought charm to his stern face and kept Gavin from hating him. Behind those cold eyes was a nearly debilitating fear of somehow screwing up. Nines snarled and sneered to keep everyone too far away to see how badly he was falling to pieces inside. Gavin knew that game all too well.

Gavin wasn't an android. He couldn't tell Nines’ stress level in percentages, but he could see it ratcheting higher in Nines’ face as the android continued to hold his wrist in silence. “Don't mention it, big guy.”

Just with that, Nines deflated again, releasing Gavin's arm and much of his tension. Gavin did not want to unpack the feeling of success that gave him. He was exhausted and on edge already, and Nines was designed to be gorgeous. Of course Gavin was just letting base attraction run rampant in his head at this hour.

“Come on, Robocop,” Gavin said, gesturing between Connor and the door. “We've got a crime scene to find.”

Markus stayed behind as the android brothers followed Gavin to his car. Connor slipped into the backseat without a comment, leaving the front passenger seat for Nines. The two androids exchanged a look Gavin tried to ignore: Nines was nervous, but Connor was just smiling.

“What way?” Gavin asked. Nines swallowed and pointed.

Police were already at the scene when Gavin pulled up. He groaned, thumping his hand on the wheel. “All right. Come on. Nines, stay by Connor.” Bringing the murderer back to the scene of the crime want necessarily the best idea, but Gavin didn't know what else to do with him at the moment.

Getting out of the car, Gavin led the androids through the holographic crime scene tape, nodding at the officer standing guard. The alley beyond was splattered with blood across the walls, a huge pool congealing beneath the hulking mountain of flesh that was the corpse.

“Whaddya got for me?” Gavin demanded, stepping around the worst of the blood and heading up to the officer inspecting the scene.

“Detective Reed! I didn't know you were on call!” Officer Person looked startled to see him. “Detective Anderson! You came quickly! I hadn't even logged it yet…”

“I'm a fucking mind reader.” Gavin walked around the body and gave a low whistle. The body's head had exploded, just a bit of his chin and jaw still attached, tongue flopping loose like a slab of beef. Connor said Nines had brain matter on his fingers. Gavin wasn't sure what else he had been expecting.

It wasn't the worst scene Gavin had been called to, but the novelty of the crushed head in pieces across the walls did work to twist his gut. “Connor, can you ID without a face?”

“Jacob Wannamaker,” Connor said, his voice and body stiff. There was a curl to his lip as he glared down at the cold corpse. “Thirty-eight years old. Minor past infractions, most recently arrested for involvement in the Ferndale warehouse raid of April 2039, released without charges.” His fists clenched tighter. “Guess who represented him…”

Gavin's eyes snapped to Connor. “Kent Jones?” Connor nodded. “You're fucking kidding me…”

Kent Jones was tied to this monster too? What, had he… Gavin glanced behind Connor at Nines, who was staring at his own hands, LED red. Had he targeted Nines specifically? Nines had stopped the first thugs from hurting Gavin. Aside from a restless drugged sleep and a rotten hangover, Gavin hadn't gotten any of the punishment intended for him. Was this a coincidence instigated by an idiot with a hard on for the RK series, or was Jones seriously trying to hurt his family?

“We found a stun baton near the body,” Officer Person informed Gavin. “Working theory is that he was attacked by an android and he tried to defend himself.”

“Other way around,” Gavin said. Between Nines’...behavior, Connor's analysis, and a quick look over the scene, Gavin's belief in the android’s relative innocence was cemented. “He attacked Nines, and Nines killed in self-defense. Look at the way he fell. Nines was cornered.”

“ _Nines_ did this?” Officer Person looked at Nines again, fear settling along the lines of his face.

Gavin narrowed his eyes. “Because this idiot _attacked_ him.” Yeah, okay, Person knew how fucked up Nines had been in CyberLife Tower. He'd taken a bullet to the heart when Nines grabbed Gavin's gun and would have been dead if it weren't for the bulletproof vest. But Gavin was the one Nines had actually endangered, and he'd forgiven the feral android. Person had no reason to imply Nines was some sort of monster for defending himself.

This was neither the time nor the place to explain how Gavin could be so confident that Nines was harmless unless provoked these days. “Connor, you seeing anything else?”

Connor had already scanned the scene and was taking his android brain through its crime fighting routines based on how madly his LED was spinning. Either that or he was sexting his boyfriend. “Jake must have attacked first for this scene to make any sense. Nines, did he think you were me?”

Nines shook his head, tapping the right side of his chest.

“He knew you were an RK900?” Nines nodded, and Connor scowled. “I'd call this a suicide, Detective Reed. I have recorded conversations with the deceased in which he states clear knowledge of the RK900 model line, what it is meant for, and some of the illegal acts he wished to engage in with said model, though at the time of the recording, the acts were not illegal.”

Recorded conversations? About fucking Nines? Gavin cracked his knuckles and wished Jake still had a face to punch. Hank said Connor didn't remember most of the shit that happened to him in the warehouse. Apparently, Connor had just been full of bullshit to keep Hank from an aneurysm.

“Suicide from overconfidence? That's nothing new. Good call, Detective Anderson.” It was a bit more complicated than that with paperwork, but Gavin was breathing easier as he looked to Nines. The larger android was fidgeting with his sleeves again, his smashed LED red. He looked...ashamed? Nines was harder to read than Connor, but he was clearly distracted by something inside his own head.

“The guy's head was crushed!” Officer Person protested. “You know Nines did it. That's murder!”

“Justifiable homicide,” Gavin explained. “By all means, process the scene, get this mess recorded and cleaned up. But Nines turned himself in immediately after it happened. Connor's already collected the evidence from Nines, we’ll get his statement, and the prosecutor will throw out any charges tomorrow. The guy attacked someone who could fight back, knowing he was designed to fight back, and got killed when his victim fought back.” Gavin spread his hands in a helpless shrug. “Open and shut case.”

“The simple fact that Nines is standing right here, willing to help us, implies he is fully cooperating,” Connor said, gesturing toward Nines. “This isn't an act of nepotism. If you find evidence that contradicts our conclusions, please bring it to our attention.”

“In the meantime,” Gavin said, “we're going to take him to the station, get his statement, and then go to bed.”

“Have a good night, Officer Person.” Connor smiled blandly at the human and turned back to Gavin's car.

Gavin slouched back to the car as well, sliding behind the wheel. That had been more fun that it really should have been. Maybe a case could be made for Gavin _not_ chasing away potential partners.

Of course, there was more to police work than just double-teaming frightened officers. Gavin glanced over at the android sitting beside him. “Nines...obviously you're not gonna talk and you're not comfortable interfacing. If we give you a tablet, will you show us what happened?”

Nines looked down at his hands. Gavin couldn't see his LED color at this angle, but eventually, Nines nodded. That was all Gavin needed.

“Okay. Station.” Gavin yawned into his bicep before pulling away from the curb.

“Nines.” Connor leaned forward, catching Nines’ attention. Gavin glanced over, but he couldn't see Connor's LED either. Connor briefly met his eyes, then turned back to his brother. “Thank you. Jake...I'm glad he didn't get a chance to...to touch you.”

Nines made a gesture, and Connor nodded. “Yes. He was the one who broke me.”

Nines folded his hands in his lap. After a moment, he lifted one and reached back, touching Connor's hand.

Nines touched Connor. _Gavin_ could hear the shocked little inhale Connor gave. Nines _never_ instigated contact (unless he was hauling Gavin's sorry ass home). For him to reach out...for him to reach out to an _android_?

Gavin was so fucking proud of his feral plastic.

Wait.

_His?_

Since when was Nines _his_ android? Gavin glanced over at his passenger. Nines turned his eyes from Connor to Gavin. Nothing on Nines’ face could be called a smile, but something about the overall softness (for Nines) added up to a hesitant little hopeful look.

Goddamn fucked up androids. Worse than fluffy kittens when it came to manipulating Gavin. He gave Nines a crooked smile in return, and Nines melted. Gavin could literally see some of the tension leave his shoulders.

Fuck.

Androids outnumbered humans in Gavin's home. Might as well make it official.

“For these reports, you're gonna need an address,” Gavin said. “We're not gonna arrest you, so we'll need to be able to find you.”

Nines shifted, glancing down at the hand in his lap. Gavin looked straight ahead out the window. “You crash at my place often enough as it is. If you want to just call it your home too, that's cool.”

There was silence from the androids. Gavin clenched his hands around the steering wheel. Stupid, that had been stupid, why did he even offer? He glanced at Nines out of the corner of his eye.

Nines was staring at him. He was looking at Gavin straight-on, revealing his yellow LED and uncharacteristically wide eyes. When Gavin looked more his way, Nines lifted his right hand and pointed to Gavin, hesitated, and then to himself.

Nines looked vulnerable. Of course he did. Jesus _Christ_ , had anyone ever told this android that they wanted him to stick around? He'd been tortured by CyberLife, strong-armed into living with Hank, and then ended up on the streets, trying to repair whatever damage CyberLife had done to his head through what, walking around alone?

Gavin remembered the sickening dread of his 21st birthday looming ahead of him, a sudden end to what little support the foster system offered him. He'd couch-surfed and worked multiple jobs while surviving the police academy. College had never been an option for him. He couldn't afford it, and nobody wanted him enough to help.

Pulling in to the police station, Gavin sighed and rested his forehead on the steering wheel. “Connor...could you give us a minute?”

“Of course, Detective. I'll get started logging the evidence I've gathered.”

Gavin waited for the door to close behind Connor and gave the android some time to move away from the car before he lifted his head to look at Nines. Nines had his hands folded in his lap, his face hardened back into his usual look of suspicion and mistrust. Fuck, that hurt more than the open surprise from when Gavin had initially made his offer.

“There are a shit ton of reasons why it's logical for you to live with us,” Gavin said. “Not in the least being that we don't know who the fuck that asshole has on his side. You might be a target now, and you'd be safer both with a permanent shelter and with others around you. Essie would be safer too. If this guy went after you because of his ties to the Joneses and because you saved my ass when they came after me, then clearly they're not done with Essie. And yeah, I trust Markus to pick her up from school and keep an eye on her, but he has his own problems and his own enemies, whereas you...you're fucking badass, and I know you love Essie.” Gavin smiled crookedly at Nines again. “You let her fall asleep on you.”

Nines ducked his head in acknowledgement. His fingers twisted together in his lap.

“There are a lot of logical reasons…but there also illogical ones.” Gavin saw how Nines glanced his way without lifting his head. “I like you. God only knows why, but I do. Your special blend of fucked-up-ness jives with mine and Essie's, and...Yeah. I just like having you around. We...heh.” Gavin lifted his hand and rubbed the scar across his nose. “We match. So, I guess… if you want to be part of the family...just say the word?” Gavin immediately winced. “Sorry, that was just a phrase. If you want to be part of the family...just take my hand?” He offered his right hand to Nines, reaching out halfway.

Nines traced his fingers over the back of his own right hand, where Gavin knew he had a scar. Nines took a deep breath, his shoulders rising and falling, and then he turned toward Gavin and accepted his offered hand.

Nines’ fingers were cool and smooth, with no calluses or scars. Gavin squeezed his fingers and offered him a smile. “I, uh, don't have a bedroom for you or anything, but we'll find a way to make it work.”

Nines shook his head, touching his LED with his free hand and gesturing negatively.

Gavin rolled his eyes. “Just because you're an android doesn't mean you don't need a place to sleep. We'll figure something out.”

Nines opened his mouth, then closed it again. He squeezed Gavin's fingers back, and just for a brief moment, his LED cycled blue.

Gavin loved the color blue.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This bribe chapter is thanks to an anonymous fan, Zylette, and SomethingorOther. Thank you all so much!


	10. Family Rules*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nines moves in.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tirrathee made the amazing hand art again, and Kao made the amazing family art! Both are at the New ERA discord server, and Tirrathee also has a Tumblr: tirrathee.tumblr.com

“Niiiiiines!” Essie's cry was easily heard above the calls of the other children as she came running through the crowd, her backpack bouncing against her back. Nines stood still as she plowed into his legs, wrapping her arms around him. Nines reached down to pat her shoulders awkwardly.

Above the throng of second graders, one of the teachers caught Nines’ eye and nodded. Responsibility for Essie's safety had been transferred back to him. He could remove her from the school premises.

Nines extended his hand to the child, and she wrapped her fingers around his, skipping along excitedly at his side as she chattered about her day and her friends. He listened to every word she said, but she did not make any demands from him for verbal responses as they walked home.

 

Gavin had been worried about them _walking_ home. He tried to convince Nines to at least take a cab, but Nines had been resistant to costing Gavin even more money. The distance between Essie's school and their apartment was negligible to an android, even a child model like Essie, and Nines was confident in his ability to protect her.

Besides, he rather enjoyed this walk, with Essie's small hand in his, her excitement palpable in the air as she bounced and skipped and gesticulated wildly, looking up at him with huge dark eyes and a bright smile.

Nines felt useful like this. Like he had a purpose. Like he wasn't just a mess of scars and fractured programming pretending to be alive. Essie's thumb slid against the scar on the back of his hand, and he looked down to meet her eyes. She grinned at him, and Nines squeezed her fingers. Like this, he felt he had a family.

Living with the Reeds was a lot different than Nines had anticipated. Gavin had laid out certain expectations that absolutely could not be violated: he was responsible for picking Essie up from school and ensuring her safety until Gavin got home, he was not allowed to wear soiled or bloody clothing, and he had to stop hissing at Tugger if they got stuck in a dispute that lasted more than ten minutes, even if it meant letting Tugger win.

If Nines couldn't watch Essie, there was a shortlist of acceptable babysitters (Markus, Connor, Hank, Tina, and Fowler) before Nines needed to contact Gavin himself. Gavin and Essie had dragged him out shopping one of the first evenings he spent with them, shoving high-necked shirts and thick pants into his arms and demanding opinions until he ended up with five different outfits tucked away in a drawer all his own in Gavin's room. Nines didn't change his clothes as frequently as the other two did, but he appreciated opening the drawer and looking at the variety of fabrics and colors and knowing that he _could_ change his clothes. If he wanted to.

Also in Nines’ drawer were a handful of thirium pouches, a stack of pictures Essie had drawn for him, and a catnip mouse. Nines did not know why Tugger had dropped the mouse in his drawer four days ago, but he had been flattered by the gift nonetheless. (Gavin told him it didn't mean anything, Tugger left his toys all over, but Nines suspected Gavin was deliberately underestimating the large cat's intelligence.)

Aside from the three absolute rules, Gavin had no other expectations for him. Nines wasn't asked to cook or clean or keep track of Gavin's calendar. He was a housemate, Gavin insisted, not live-in help. Watching Essie was really the only way Gavin asked him to contribute.

Nines was grateful. He didn't really know much about cooking. He could make Gavin a sandwich if Gavin had the proper ingredients, and he could make sure Gavin's coffee was hot and fresh when he got out of the shower in the morning, but that was the extent of his culinary skills. He wasn't very adept at cleaning either, though he had privately taken responsibility for cleaning up after Tugger.

One morning he had watched as Tugger made a huge array of increasingly distressing hacking and hurking sounds, backing down the hall with his back heaving, until he produced an enormous and slimy wad from his mouth that analysis indicated was cat fur and digestion fluids. Tugger did this two more times before sauntering off with a flick of his tail, licking his mouth clean. Nines calculated a 87% chance that Gavin would step in the mess upon waking up and exiting his room in the morning, so Nines searched the internet for instructions and cleaned the “fur balls” before Gavin could be inconvenienced by finding them with a foot. Gavin had been a mix of pleased and disgusted with the results when Nines showed him the fur balls next morning, but he had thanked Nines for taking care of things.

Nines liked that Gavin had thanked him.

It was another way he didn't feel useless. He made sure to show Gavin every fur ball Tugger produced, partially to hear Gavin say thank you and mostly because Gavin would scrunch his face up in fascinating contortions that amused Nines.

There was still no separate bedroom for Nines. Gavin had tried to figure out a way to carve out some space in the small apartment for Nines’ use, but Nines kept returning things to the way they were before. He had a drawer that he could keep things in. That was more than enough. The last thing Nines wanted was to put Gavin out even more, especially after Gavin kept buying him clothes and thirium.

It wasn't enough for Gavin. Having a bed was something he kept focusing on. He turned the couch into a bed for Nines, but Nines folded the blankets and put them away. He wasn't a YK model that required stasis for proper functioning. He was an RK900, the most advanced android on the planet. He could go months without a noticeable dip in his charge, and years without a stasis update.

Gavin called it bullshit. Nines simply thought of the empty, broken garden in his dreams and never let himself fall asleep.

Sometimes, at night, after putting away the bed Gavin made for him, Nines would go into Essie's room and crouch beside her bed, just watching the small android “sleep.” Most nights, she was still except for her automatic breathing, with Tugger curling up against her neck. Some nights, though, she abruptly jolted out of stasis, her eyes flying open and darting around in the dark, LED bright red at her temple. Seeing Nines lowered her stress levels, and she gave him sleepy smiles before returning to stasis.

Every now and then, Gavin would join Nines, standing in the doorway and watching Essie sleep with his arms around his stomach and sadness on his face. It was one of the few times when he wouldn't speak, but would just silently stand vigil over his daughter, like he was reassuring himself she was still there, still safe.

If Essie woke up when Nines wasn't in the room, she would pad to Gavin's room and climb in his bed. Nines would follow her, watching as she climbed over Gavin and sat on his chest until he opened his eyes and dragged her into a hug. He'd then lift the blankets and let her crawl in beside him, tucked beneath his arm, one of her small hands pressed over his heart, her LED slowly melting blue again.

Nines marveled at the ease at which Essie could demand physical contact from Gavin. She was always in his arms or tucked against his side, squeezed tight with hugs or having his fingers caressing her hair. Nines wished he could ask for the same. So many times he'd lean against the wall, watching Gavin and Essie as they watched a movie together, or built something out of Lego, or as Gavin wrestled her hair under control, and wish that he could join in. He could imagine sitting on the floor, leaning against Gavin's knee, with Gavin's fingers massaging his scalp while the three of them watched the movie, or sitting beside him with Essie tucked between them, both of their arms behind her back, fingers brushing together…

Nines never dared to ask for contact from Gavin. The human seemed wary about touching him, and Nines wanted to respect that.

It didn't stop him from crouching beside Gavin's bed some nights, watching the detective as he slept. Nines itched to touch him. He wanted to feel his hair and compare it to the dark stubble on his jaw. He wanted to touch the scars slashed across Gavin's face and compare them to his own damage. He wanted to run his fingers around Gavin's parted lips and slip them inside his mouth again, touch the heat that Gavin always burned with.

Nines didn't. He knew such contact would be incredibly inappropriate. He knew Gavin would throw him out of the apartment if he woke up to Nines touching him. But he didn't wake up just to Nines watching him sleep.

Except when he did.

“ _Jesus fucking Christ!_ ” Gavin's eyes fluttered open, barely noticeable in the yellow-tinged darkness before he suddenly jerked back, flailing against his sheets. Nines jumped himself, pressing back against the wall, curling his hands in against his chest. Gavin slapped around until he found his bedside lamp, flipping it on. “ _Nines?_ What the hell!?”

He'd screwed up. Nines opened and closed his mouth uselessly, clutching at his chest and not having words to explain to Gavin that he liked watching the man sleep.

“Fuck…” Gavin scrubbed his hands across his face and through his hair. “Nines...fuck.” His voice was heavy with sleep, Nines’ name spilling from his lips like warm honey. “Did you need something?”

Nines ducked his head and shook it. No, he didn't need anything. He was just watching Gavin because he liked to watch Gavin.

“Do you watch me like you watch Essie?” Gavin covered a yawn with his arm. Nines bit his lip and gave a nod. He didn't think about all the same things when he watched Gavin compared to when he watched Essie, but he did watch them both to marvel at these amazing people in his life, his stress levels decreasing just by being near them.

“Fuck,” Gavin groaned, rolling over and pressing his face against the pillows. “Look, fuck, whatever. Get in the bed.”

Nines didn't move. He stared at Gavin, running a quick diagnostic on his audio processors. He must have misheard…

Gavin stretched out his arm and lifted the blankets. “Get in the damn bed, Edward Cullen.” He rolled his head to the side to squint at Nines. “Watching people sleep is fucking creepy. If you're gonna do it, at least pretend like you're sleeping too.”

His name wasn't Edward Cullen. Nines looked around the room, but he couldn't see anyone else Gavin was referring to. Gavin groaned again, shaking the sheets. “Fucking glitter vampire...Nines, just get in the bed so I can go back to sleep. Can't sleep with you looming over me like a goddamn home invader…”

Gavin was talking to _him_. He was inviting _Nines_ into his bed. Like he invited Essie? Nines crept forward, hesitating at every step. He crawled into the bed, and Gavin dropped the blankets over him. He stretched over for the light, plunging the room back into darkness lit only by Nines’ flickering LED. “Night, Nines.”

Nines gave a soft whine in the back of his throat, hoping Gavin understood the sentiment. He laid perfectly still, his head on the pillow, warmth from Gavin's body still lingering in the sheets. Gavin's face smoothed out quickly, sleep easily creeping over him once again.

Nines gave a soft little sigh, letting minutes slide past, just memorizing Gavin's microexpressions as he dreamed and stirred, rolling over in his sleep, muttering unintelligibly, restless even at rest.

And then Gavin's hand found his arm.

It took hours, but over the course of the night, Gavin shifted and twisted and dragged his body against Nines’. Nines laid perfectly still as Gavin squirmed his head onto Nines’ shoulder, one arm draped over his waist. The human was definitely still asleep, unaware of his body's actions.

Nines lay still in agonizing bliss. Gavin's body was pressed against his own. Nines could feel every beat of Gavin's heart and expansion of his lungs. Gavin's hair brushed Nines’ chin, and his arm was solid and grounding across his abdomen. Nines felt safe. Protected. Cared for, even, though he knew that was a stretch. Gavin had simply gravitated to the body in his bed. It didn't mean anything.

It certainly wouldn't mean anything when Gavin woke up. Nines knew this would never happen again. Gavin was fiercely independent except when it came to Essie. He hadn't taken his previous sexual partner back to his room. In fact, from analyzing the odors in the room, Nines was fairly sure there had not been any sexual intercourse in this room in years, even before Essie. Sexual masturbation, yes, but Nines did not pick up the scent of a second party, and Gavin was not so thorough a cleaner that _all_ traces would be removed.

Gavin would be horrified to find himself snuggled up against Nines like this, no matter how much Nines loved it. He closed his eyes, taking a deep breath and sorting out the heady scent of Gavin's unique body chemistry pressed so tightly against him.

Markus advised Nines to find what he liked. To find himself. He liked _this_. He liked Gavin. And if this was the only time he would ever get to indulge in the comfort of Gavin's presence…

Nines carefully folded his arms around Gavin. The man murmured softly and nuzzled closer. Nines took one breath, and then another. He let his breathing resume its automatic steady rhythm. Gavin didn't wake up. Nines was holding him. He lifted his head to watch Gavin sleeping on his shoulder, memorizing everything about these moments. When Gavin woke up, he would probably shove Nines away, and Nines would find a way to live with that. It would be okay. Gavin could shove Nines away, but he couldn't steal this night from Nines’ memory.

As Gavin continued to sleep, Nines grew bolder. He let his hands mold against Gavin's back, feeling muscle and bone through the thin cotton of his t-shirt. He ran his fingers down Gavin's spine, memorizing the protrusions of his vertebrae. He ducked his head down and pressed his cheek to Gavin's hair.

Yes, Nines envied Essie and her ability to always be allowed this warm contact.

Gavin's alarm went off before Nines’ craving for Gavin's contact was sated. The man jerked away and groaned his frustrations, squirming against Nines as he felt for his phone. Nines opened his arms, letting Gavin crawl over him to grab the offending device and silence the blaring noise. Then Gavin looked down.

Nines looked up. Gavin's hand was planted on Nines’ chest. Their lower bodies were pressed together. There was no way Gavin could be unaware of how they had been pressed together in his sleep.

Gavin blinked a few times, clearly trying to understand what he was looking at. Eventually, he sighed and pushed himself up, swinging his legs out of bed. “Next time you get an urge to watch me sleep, just get in the damn bed,” he said, his back to Nines. “Don't stand over me like a creeper.”

That wasn't anger. That wasn't rejection. Nines sat up slowly, staring at Gavin's back. He made a questioning noise in the back of his throat, reaching to tug at his right sleeve and pull it down over his hand.

“Sometimes I have to go watch Essie sleep just to reassure myself that she's still here, still safe,” Gavin said quietly. “I know you do the same thing. And if that's why you're staring at me too...fine. Whatever. I get it. It's just really fucking creepy to open your eyes and have a big silhouette standing there. Maybe you and Essie can process fast enough to not have a heart attack, but I'm just a dumb-ass human. So if you need to watch, the bed is big enough. Lie down and don't terrify me.”

Gavin got up to get ready for work, and Nines watched him pad out of the room, yawning and stretching his arms out. He replayed Gavin's words in his head. Nines had been _wrong_. Gavin allowed the contact.

Nines was careful not to be too greedy. He _wanted_ to lie beside Gavin every night. He restrained himself to twice a week, always waiting for Gavin to fall asleep before slipping into the bed and indulging in his need to watch.

Gavin was a cuddly sleeper. Every single time Nines joined him in bed, Gavin ended up wrapped around him. Nines loved it. He loved being allowed to hold Gavin against him, soaking in the warmth and life of his very human, very fragile body.

Once, Essie joined them. She crawled across Nines’ body to wake Gavin, ending up cuddled between them. Her hand was on Gavin's heart, but Gavin's hand ended up stretched over Essie, resting lightly on Nines’ hip. Gavin was claiming them both as his. Nines felt unbelievably calm that night as he laid beside his human and the child, watching them both sleep.

He liked this. He wanted this. He wanted every night to be like this.


	11. Confessions*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Kent Jones has finally been arrested.
> 
> Why doesn't Gavin feel good?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, lovely art by kao, and lovely Anne Shapiro by Estora!

Kent Jones had been arrested. It had taken _months_ to build a tight enough case against him, what with all the circumstantial evidence and the lawsuits the Joneses kept pressing. Gavin was eternally grateful for Nines’ presence around Essie. He knew that she was safe with the RK900 as her bodyguard.

He also knew that Nines staked out her school after they dropped her off in the morning. Gavin sometimes got texts from RK90031324831787 that were only pictures of Essie outside at recess, laughing and playing with her friends. Part of Gavin wanted to scold Nines for still not understanding stalker tendencies, but more of him was just glad for the updates that she was safe.

Kent had been arrested, but he was out on bail the next day, even though it had been set at $150,000. Gavin privately hated them for being rich enough to not even blink at that expense. If he'd been given that bail, he'd probably have to sell a kidney. Still. Arrested. Bail. Trial would come soon, and then Essie would be safe.

Gavin hit the gym after his shift. That was part of his old routine he'd been able to get back into once Nines joined the family. Connor had had a point when he told Gavin that his stress affected Essie. With Nines watching over Essie at home, Gavin didn't feel guilty about spending an hour or two at the gym. She was safe. He'd see her soon.

Evenings were getting cooler. The sun set earlier and earlier. Halloween was coming. Essie wanted to be a cop. Gavin had been horrified at the cost of a costume compared to the quality of it. He'd traded out most of the plastic accessories for real ones, like handcuffs and a whistle. There weren't real uniforms small enough for her, or Gavin would have gone that route instead.

Right now, though, he was wondering if he should stop showering at the gym before heading home. His damp hair was cold, and the evenings would only be getting colder. The walk to his car was short, but then his car would be cold until the heat started working.

“Detective Reed?”

“Yeah?” Gavin turned to find Jill Jones standing in the shadows beside a building, the unmistakable shape of a gun in her hands. “Oh, _fuck_ you.”

“You are _ruining_ our lives!” Jill hissed. “Kent's reputation is in tatters! You've stolen my little girl!”

“You're ruining your own lives, lady,” Gavin snapped back. “All your husband had to do was _not_ try to stick his dick in a child.”

“She is _ours_ , to do with as we pleased!”

“She is a _child_!”

Gavin entered the foster system when he was six years old. The first couple he'd been placed with had strict, antiquated views on raising children. Gavin knew all too well what it felt like to be eight years old and know that your guardians didn't actually give a shit about whether or not you were happy as long as you looked the part.

Kent and Jill Jones did not want a daughter. They wanted a pretty little status symbol they could dress up and fuck with, a little girl to parade around at parties and look nice in Christmas cards.

They did not deserve Essie, or any other child.

“Look.” Gavin held his hands up and took a step closer. He needed to get control of that gun. “Mrs. Jones. Legally, she's not a toy anymore. You have to enroll her in school and take care of her needs now. She _needs_ an emotional commitment.”

“Like you know _anything_ about her needs!”

 _More than you,_ Gavin refrained from saying. Yeah, he didn't know anything about being a dad, and if he were in charge of a human life, he probably would have killed it by now, but Essie just needed him to love her and hold her and help her with her hair and her homework, and her recurring nightmares of extreme sexual abuse and abandonment. Easy.

Mostly easy.

Essie needed Gavin to come home without a bullet hole in his heart. She needed to know she was safe, that her family was safe. Gavin took another step forward. “You will never get her back. What your husband did to her-”

“Innocent until proven guilty!”

“And Essie calls the leader of the androids her uncle,” Gavin said. “You're not getting her back. Even if you kill me, you're not getting her back. And if you do shoot me...lady, I'm a _cop_. Off-duty, unarmed...this is not going to end well for you. Just turn around and walk away. You've lost. Don't make it worse.”

“How dare-!”

Gavin lunged for the gun as Jill fired. He felt the burst of pain as a bullet ripped through his side, grabbing the barrel and wrenching it from her hands. Jill screamed as Gavin fell to his knees. Her pointy-toed shoe caught him under his chin, snapping his head back. Gavin choked, catching his arms around her leg and yanking down, trying to pop her knee before his body fully acknowledged the wound and dumped him into shock. She was pulling at the gun in his hands. He couldn't let her get it back, or he was dead, but his palms were already slick with sweat.

“ _FBI, FREEZE!_ ”

Gavin never thought he'd be grateful to hear the voice of Hank's girlfriend. Special Agent Anne Shapiro frequented the same gym he did, and she was proving to be a godsend when it came to helping Essie work through her trauma, but their schedules didn't often line up enough for them to work out together.

“You have the right to remain silent…”

Shapiro's voice was fading in and out. Gavin dropped the gun and pressed his hands to his stomach. His shirt was already soaked through. A dangerous amount of blood was on the outside of his body.

 

“Stay... Gavin... my voice…”

Shapiro was talking to him, but it wasn't really registering. “Essie...need to tell Essie…”

“...her know...Gavin…”

There were sirens. Ambulance sirens. Gavin sighed, letting Shapiro lower him to the ground. She was pressing hard on his wounds, but he didn't even mind. Everything was sort of fuzzy, growing black…

When Gavin opened his eyes again, he was in a hospital. That much was clear by the beeping of a heart monitor beside him and the way his bare ass was pressed against the sheets. Hospital gowns were the fucking _worst_.

Gavin could feel a heavy gaze on him. He rolled his head to the side to meet cool gray eyes. Nines was crouched by his bedside, LED bright red.

Really, he was getting used to this, just as he had gotten used to Nines’ dinosaur cries and bloody jacket. A year ago, CyberLife's most dangerous android staring at him as he slept would have been one of his worst nightmares. Now it was just sort of endearing.

Except...Nines was alone. The room was dark. There was no little android girl here.

“You're supposed to be with Essie,” Gavin drawled, whatever drugs were in his IV dragging his words out.

Nines shook his head. Gavin swore, trying to sit up. He struggled against his blankets, but Nines put a hand on his shoulder, pinning him to the bed.

“No... _fuck_ , that was Jill Jones...that bitch shot me! She wants Essie…”

Gavin struggled despite Nines’ hand, twisting his hips and gasping as that spiked pain through his abdomen even with the blissfully numbing drugs in his veins. Nines hissed and stood, easily swinging a leg onto the bed and over Gavin. He sat himself on Gavin's thighs, holding Gavin down with his weight.

“Fuck...fuck you,” Gavin growled. “Essie, where the fuck is Essie, is she-”

“Connor.”

Nines’ LED went yellow as Gavin froze in shock. Nines _spoke_. Nines had an actual voice, and it wasn't just a copy of Connor's. It was similar, but Nines’ was pitched slightly deeper, more powerful, just like everything else about him. Connor cranked up to a twelve, bigger, faster, stronger, hotter…

Jesus.

Nines swallowed, lifting his left hand to his throat. He seemed just as surprised as Gavin was to hear his own voice.

“I didn't know you could talk,” Gavin said, immediately feeling like an idiot. Hadn't Hank or Markus or someone said that Nines _could_ talk and was just choosing not to?

“It hurt.”

“To talk?” Gavin reached up, brushing his fingers against Nines’ throat. “You don't have to if it hurts.”

Nines shook his head, closing his eyes. Gavin could feel his pulse, a slow thrum of thirium flowing through his veins. “When...at CyberLife. It hurt then. Not now.”

Gavin pushed his fingers back, finding the scar that taunted him, crawling up from Nines’ collar to disappear into his hair. He ran his fingers up the damaged skin, curling around his ear. “They'd shock you and make you talk?”

Nines pressed his lips together and nodded. He wasn't breathing anymore, and his LED was flickering between red and yellow.

“Bastards,” Gavin murmured. He rubbed his thumb against Nines’ ear. It felt...like an ear, soft and pliable. Not like sculpted plastic, which intellectually, Gavin knew it was. “Essie's with Connor?”

Nines nodded again, otherwise motionless.

“You could have stayed with her…”

“You got shot,” Nines murmured.

“Yeah, but...Shapiro was there. I'm fine.”

Nines looked down at Gavin's body. He sat back and pulled the blankets down. Gavin watched, curious, as Nines folded his blankets nearly against his hips.

And then Nines grabbed his hospital gown and pulled it up.

“Hey!” Gavin yelped as he was suddenly exposed, heartrate jumping erratically. The folded blanket was just barely high enough to keep him decent, though Gavin wasn't sure if that was intentional. Nines didn't have a good grasp of what was and wasn't appropriate.

Case in point, he was sitting on Gavin's thighs with Gavin's hospital gown pushed up beneath his armpits.

“You got shot,” Nines repeated. His LED was red now as he leaned forward. His fingers, cool and smooth, brushed across Gavin's belly and traced the edges of his bandages. He stroked across the gauze, barely applying any pressure. Gavin watched his cracked LED circle and flicker and wondered what Nines was thinking.

“You could have died. Two centimeters inward or upward would have been fatal. Abdominal wounds are dangerous. You might still succumb to sepsis. You can _die_.”

Nines’ voice cracked, his pale eyes focused on the bandages he was touching. He was breathing again, short, harsh pants like he was hyperventilating.

Gavin covered Nines’ hand with one of his, bringing his other around to touch Nines’ cheek. “Hey. Hey, look at me. Nines. Look at me.”

Those pale eyes lifted to his own, pain and despair and confusion written plainly across a broken soul. Gavin knew he was looking at glass and plastic, but he also knew he was looking at someone alive. Someone hurt.

Someone that loved him.

Someone he loved.

“Yeah. I got shot. But I'm at a hospital. I'm not gonna die.”

“All humans die.”

“But I'm not gonna die today. Or tomorrow. Or anytime soon. Don't be sad that I will one day die, Nines. I'm not dead today. That's something we should celebrate.”

“Celebrate?”

“Yeah.” Gavin pushed his hand back into Nines’ soft hair, cupping the back of his head. Nines leaned forward even without needing Gavin to coax him, hands bracing on the mattress on either side of Gavin's chest. “Celebrate…”

Their lips met, chaste and gentle. Gavin let his eyes close, wrapping his free arm around Nines’ broad shoulders. Nines’ tongue traced along Gavin's mouth, slipping inside as Gavin opened for him.

 

Nines didn't kiss like a human. He _wasn't_ human. He was a walking crime lab with a tongue designed to analyze genetic samples and he was putting it to use analyzing every corner of Gavin's mouth. Gavin huffed against his lips, chasing and teasing that sensitive tongue, loving how Nines would tense and shift beneath his hands. He massaged his fingertips over Nines’ scalp, trying to mess up his perfect hair, and tightened his arm across Nines’ back in a futile attempt to bring him closer. Nines held his body at a distance, protecting Gavin's wound.

Gavin had to push Nines away when he needed to breathe. He'd always had difficulty breathing through his nose ever since it got fucked up thirty years ago. Making out with a android didn't miraculously make it better.

Nines drew back, his eyes wide, LED yellow. He touched Gavin's face reverently, those impossibly smooth fingers tracing over his cheekbone and stubble, along his jaw and up to circle around his mouth. Gavin smiled up at him, pushing his hair up.

“Hey,” Gavin murmured. “Tomorrow's my birthday. I'm gonna celebrate thirty-seven years of not dying yet. You know what present I want?”

Nines looked back at Gavin's eyes and shook his head.

Gavin smirked. “Another kiss.”

Nines’ LED circled blue, and he leaned down again to oblige. Gavin laughed into Nines’ mouth, pushing their tongues together and showing Nines how humans kissed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This bribe chapter was unlocked by an anonymous donor and idkreally! Those donors also put me up to 25% of a new iPad. Guys...you're gonna make me cry over here. Thank you so much!


	12. Aftercare*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin is home from the hospital, finally!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The beautiful art here is once again by kao, though... I did have to tell them to put some clothes on Gavin! For the original picture, you'll have to look in the New ERA server.

Nines kissed Gavin until Gavin fell asleep beneath him, luxuriating in the man's mouth open to his tongue, finally, _finally_ getting to explore that soft heat. He curled up beside Gavin in the small bed, holding Gavin against his chest and letting his hands wander, mapping out his face, his hair, the scruff of his unshaved beard and the lines of his scars. He folded Gavin's gown and blankets back into place, knowing the man was susceptible to the cold and likely more sensitive than usual with his injury and lower blood levels.

Nines slipped out of the room before Gavin woke up the next morning, stopping by Markus’ place to pick up Essie and take her to school. She hugged him tight, her arms curling around his neck. “Is Daddy okay?”

Nines nodded, squeezing her around her back. Gavin was injured, but he would heal. He would survive. He would come home to his daughter.

Until Gavin could come home, Nines did not spend another night with him. He brought Essie to the hospital after school so she could hug Gavin and see for herself that he was okay, but Nines did not reach for the man himself, not even when Gavin gave him speculating looks. He wanted to kiss Gavin again. He wanted to keep Gavin to himself. He could wait.

Gavin came home from the hospital on a Saturday morning. Nines helped him get to his bed while Essie fussed endlessly over him, bringing him glasses of water, food, and Tugger. She curled up beside him, tucked under his arm, and read to him from her favorite book of dragon stories. Nines took care of doling out Gavin's medication, but Essie did everything else for her daddy.

Eventually, Essie was yawning heavily, her head pillowed on Gavin's leg. He was running his fingers through her long curls. “Essie-Bess, kiddo, you need to go to bed.”

“Don't wanna…”

Gavin smiled fondly and tickled her neck until she squirmed away with a giggle, hunching her shoulders up to protect herself. “Noooo!”

“Bedtime, Essie. Go get ready for bed. Nines'll tuck you in.”

Essie sighed, slumping beside Gavin. “Do I gotta?”

“Yes, you gotta.” Gavin tugged her closer by her shoulders, pressing a kiss to her forehead. “I'll still be here when you wake up, Essie. I promise.”

Essie hugged Gavin and kissed his rough cheek. “I love you, Daddy!” she whispered

“I love you too, kiddo. Always and forever.”

Nines loaded the dishwasher and started it while Essie changed into her pajamas and brushed her teeth. He double-checked the locks on the door and turned off the lights on his way to Essie's room. She sat still on her bed while he pulled her hair into a loose braid to keep it from tangling as she slept, then bounced around to give him a hug. “Thank you, Nines!”

Nines skimmed his hand down her back and smiled, then pulled her covers back. She sighed but settled between the sheets with a purely unnecessary yawn. Tugger immediately jumped into the bed and curled around her head on the pillows.

“G'night, Nines,” Essie said, wrapping one arm around the cat's fluffy body. He settled his chin on her LED. “Will you look after Daddy tonight?”

Nines nodded, smoothing his fingers across her cheek. She smiled, her eyes fluttering shut as she entered stasis.

Nines wondered what she experienced when she was “asleep.” Surely it wasn't the same poisoned garden he wandered through. As far as he knew, that handler protocol was unique to the RK model line. He hoped she didn't experience the garden. Such an empty _wrongness_ was cruel to inflict on a child.

And Essie _was_ a child. For all her years active, her processor was specifically hindered, giving her an innocent naivety despite the abuse she had endured. Elijah Kamski was taking strides toward allowing her code to “age,” but it would take many more months before he had anything resembling success. For now, she was approximately seven years old, with a loving father and a...Nines. Whatever he was to her. He knew he loved her. He _trusted_ her. He wanted to see her safe and happy, always.

These were not emotions an RK900 model was supposed to experience. Not that an RK900 model was supposed to experience _any_ emotions, but love? Love was a weakness. It created weaknesses. Nines was meant to be a machine, a perfect bodyguard or member of law enforcement. Loving a child, even a child android, opened up an opportunity to be exploited. Just as Gavin had thrown concerns of his own safety aside when Essie was taken from him, so too could Nines be compromised.

Essie wasn’t his only weakness. Nines slipped out of her room and collected Gavin’s last dose of medicine for the day as well as a fresh glass of water before he was drawn to the man’s bedroom. Three days ago, Connor had stopped by to tell him Gavin was in the hospital and Nines had nearly shut down on the spot. His stress levels had skyrocketed, and Connor squeezed his shoulder, telling him to go and be with Gavin.

Connor knew. Somehow, without ever interfacing with him, Connor knew that Nines’ world had wrapped itself around the grumpy detective and his daughter. He knew the night Nines killed Jake. He knew when Gavin asked Connor to give them a minute. He _knew_ , and he understood, and he said nothing but offered his support.

Was this what it meant to have a brother? A family? Nines looked at Gavin, sitting in his bed, one hand over his side where he'd been shot.

Was this what it meant to have a home?

He held out the medicine and water wordlessly. Gavin accepted the pills and swallowed them dry. Nines frowned, continuing to hold out the water until Gavin accepted the cup and drank a third of it. While Gavin did that, Nines moved around the room, occupying himself by tidying the disaster zone it always became. Gavin's clothes had an extreme tendency to end up anywhere but his hamper, even when the man was bed bound. Organizing them kept Nines from just staring at Gavin, which Gavin had denounced as ‘creepy’ many times in the past.

“Did you come to visit me that first night?”

Nines glanced over at him, shaking out a jacket and hanging it up. He considered lying. Gavin was toying with the glass, his fingers betraying his nerves. Nines could lie, shake his head, claim it never happened. Let Gavin think it was just the drugs making him hallucinate the visit. Gavin was giving him an out...or an in.

Nines nodded.

Gavin was studying him, those clever eyes trying to read his passive face, his cracked LED, currently yellow, his motionless stance.

“You spoke.”

Nines nodded again.

“Was that just a one-time thing? You gonna be all silent or snarls again?”

At CyberLife, Nines would talk to give status reports. A painful burst of electricity would flood his veins, burn his mind, melt his body, and then _RK900, run diagnostics_. The only time he spoke was to detail his torture. How could he explain being bound to such orders to a human such as Gavin, who blathered innanely and crudely about everything and nothing? He had mentioned the physical torture to Gavin already, but not that soul-destroying anguish that accompanied it.

He looked away.

“Hey.” Gavin's voice was quieter. “You don't have to talk if you don't want to. It was just...cool. To hear your voice. I thought you'd sound just like Connor, but you don't. You sound like...heh. Like you.”

Nines glanced back at Gavin. The man fiddled with the glass again, then set it aside. Nines closed the closet doors and turned to face Gavin.

“We kissed.” Gavin had a flush to his face, a patchy red blush across his cheeks and damaged nose, highlighting the white of his scars usually camouflaged in his skin. “Did you, uh...how about that? Did you...like that?”

 

Gavin was...embarrassed? Unsure? Had he been in favor of the kisses or opposed to them? He certainly hadn't seemed to mind at the time...but at the time, he had also been incredibly high on medications to numb his pain and likely fog his brain. Nines hesitated, unsure of how to answer. He remembered the feel of Gavin's lips against his own, the warm pressure, the flutter of his pulse through the tiny veins, the way his lips and teeth and tongue tasted as Nines pushed into his mouth, needing to analyze the man, the way it _felt_ as Gavin pushed back, even though his tongue was incapable of the same examination.

Nines had been watching Gavin for weeks now, wanting a chance to touch him, to taste him, to kiss him with Gavin's full knowledge and consent. He had that memory now, secure in his processor, to be replayed whenever he chose. He didn't need anything more.

He wanted more. He wanted to kiss Gavin again. He wanted to...to do what that other man had done, all that time ago. Push Gavin against a wall, yank his pants around his thighs. He wanted to feel Gavin's penis against his tongue, taste the hot, secret skin between his legs. He wanted to make Gavin shiver and moan, those scarred fingers digging into his hair. He wanted to turn Gavin around and push inside him, _be_ inside him, hold Gavin's body against his own as they interfaced in the best way humans could manage.

Gavin flipped the blankets back and patted the mattress beside him. “Come here?”

Nines approached the bed slowly and sat on the edge. He looked back at Gavin, noting the effects of his medication. In addition to the flush to his cheeks, Gavin's eyes were slightly unfocused, and his lips were dry. His heart rate and respiration were moderately elevated, and his core temperature was warmer than average. He was not nearly as severely affected as he had been at the hospital, but he was not completely sober.

“If you don't like what I'm about to say, can you blame it on the meds and we can pretend I never said it?”

Nines frowned slightly, but he gave a nod. Gavin seemed worried lately that he was going to say something wrong to Nines. Nines had long since gotten past the need to rip every human limb from limb if they so much as touched him. Gavin had proven his loyalty and usefulness time and again. Nines would not hold his words against him.

“I liked kissing you. And I...I like when you choose to climb into my bed and I'm not alone when I wake up. And I ache all over and I'm finally in my own bed again and I'd just...really like it if you let me kiss you again. And...if you stayed here tonight. In bed. With me. Because…” Gavin's blush darkened, and he looked down. “I just...really...fuck. Forget about it. You can do what you want.”

Gavin said ‘fuck’ like he was spitting the word, an angry cat staking his claim. Nines hadn't met any other human who pronounced it that way. It was illogical. Endearing.

The way Gavin looked away was not. The shadows to his eyes that had nothing to do with his medication, the way his hand lifted to subconsciously brush against his nose...Nines hated those as much as he hated how the other man had touched Gavin. How he hadn't realized the worth of this stupid, useful, infuriating, _charming_ mess of a human.

Gavin didn't realize his own worth. Nines did not understand how the man could not see what he meant to those around him. Essie alone would worship this man until the moment he died and then enshrine him in the world's memory. And Nines?

Nines caught Gavin's hand and tugged it away from his face, then leaned in and ran his tongue across those dry lips. They parted with a soft exhale of surprise, and Nines sealed their mouths together, kissing him fiercely, desperately, as if he'd never be given this chance again. Maybe he wouldn't. Maybe Gavin was only this pliant when he was floating in a drug-induced haze. He remembered the wordless lesson Gavin had given him in oral expressions of affection and put them all to good use.

Gavin's hand caught on Nines’ shoulder and slid to his bicep. His fingers kneaded against the cable knit sweater, massaging Nines’ arm through the heavy yarn. His mouth was open beneath Nines’ onslaught, his tongue twisting against Nines’ own, even as he let Nines push him into his pillows.

When Gavin's fingers tightened harder than before, Nines let up. Humans needed to breathe, and even with his nasal passages clear, humans were apparently not the best at multitasking when they were being sexually intimate.

“Nines,” Gavin whispered, and he looked so dumbfounded and disbelieving that Nines nearly kissed him again right there. He didn't. Gavin tried to sit up, but Nines pushed him back to the pillows.

“On your side.”

Gavin's eyes went wide and dark when Nines spoke, but he didn't say anything. He shifted down on the pillows, careful of his injury, and rolled onto his uninjured side, the long line of his back turned toward the android.

Nines drew the blankets up over them both, tucking himself along Gavin's back and feeling Gavin immediately press against his chest. Carefully, mindful of the hole in Gavin's side, Nines eased his arms around him. He pushed his right arm beneath the man and with his left, he curled over Gavin's chest. Here, he could nuzzle into the short hairs at the nape of Gavin's neck, dragging his tongue over the bristly texture and feeling Gavin tense and relax against his chest. He dragged Gavin's shirt up, pressing his hand flat against Gavin's bare skin. He had hair here too, coarse and curly. Nines wanted to taste it. Later. There would be time for that later.

Nines rubbed and stroked, working his way lower. He found Gavin's navel and pushed his fingers along the spread of hair that dropped beneath his pants. Nines did not let something as trivial as a piece of elastic stop him, continuing the path down Gavin's body.

Gavin's hand pressed on top of Nines’, above his pants, pinning the android's in place. “Nines...fuck, you don't have to...look I'm not in any shape to…”

“Want to.” Nines pressed the words against Gavin's skin, feeling him shiver. His left hand skimmed up, finding a nipple with unerring precision. His preliminary research indicated that nipples were an erogenous zone for humans, and if the way Gavin twitched and sighed in his arms was any indication, his research was correct. “Enjoy this. Let me take care of you.”

“Fuck, Nines, why is your voice so hot…?”

Gavin's hand withdrew, a gesture which Nines interpreted as consent. He pushed his fingers lower, finding his prize in the warm confinement of Gavin's pants.

Gavin gave a soft sigh as Nines wrapped his fingers around the partially erect penis, holding him gently. Here was a part of Gavin not rough and battered by his life, but soft and proud. Nines decided right then that he could hold Gavin like this for the rest of eternity and be content, especially as Gavin gave a soft roll of his hips, a little moan reverberating in his chest.

In Nines’ grasp, Gavin's penis swelled. It was thicker, harder, hotter...Nines moaned himself, imagining what it would taste like.

“Nines…?”

Gavin still sounded so hesitant, even with Nines’ hand wrapped around his erection. Nines sighed and dragged his tongue across the back of Gavin's neck again. “I'm thinking of you,” he murmured, processing the taste of his human's skin and sweat. Gavin shivered. From his words? Or maybe...Gavin said his voice was ‘hot.’ Maybe...Gavin liked hearing him talk? Talking had never been something Nines had enjoyed before, but if it could make Gavin react so strongly... “Thinking of _this_.” Nines shifted his hand. He tightened his grip and slid it up and down, feeling Gavin's skin shift across his engorged flesh. “How it might taste. How it would feel in my mouth.”

“Shit…” Gavin breathed, his voice shaking. He ducked his head, and Nines closed his lips around the knobs of his vertebrae, sucking on each bone as he continued to work his hand over Gavin.

“Wanted it for a while. You. Wanted to touch you, taste you, analyze you. Try to understand what makes you so unique. Special. Endearing.” Nines pinched Gavin's nipple and twisted his hand over Gavin's penis, faster now, letting his hand match the pace of Gavin's rhythmic thrusts.

“Want to taste you all over. Peel off your clothes and lick your skin, your sweat, your semen. Want the weight of your penis on my tongue, warm down my throat. Want to make you moan and whimper and cry out my name.” Nines closed his eyes, pushing kisses along Gavin's neck and shoulders. “Want to push you up against a wall and enter your body. Want to be as close to you as is physically possible. Want to _know_ you, every inch of you. Want-”

Gavin silenced him with a kiss, reaching back to grab at Nines’ hair and hold him in place. Their mouths met, sloppy and uncoordinated, Gavin panting against Nines’ lips, moaning his name against his tongue. His face was tightening up, hips becoming erratic.

“Want to make you orgasm,” Nines whispered. His grip did not relent as Gavin squirmed and moaned in his arms. He kissed Gavin's gasping mouth, his flushed cheeks, his scruffy jaw. He kissed and pulled and Gavin tensed up, crying out softly against Nines’ cheek. His penis pulsed in Nines’ grip, a warm fluid dripping over his fingers.

“Fuck…” Gavin whispered, his body trembling as it relaxed. “Nines...shit, Nines…”

“Shh.” Nines kissed the corner of Gavin's mouth, his cheek, his ear. “Shh, sleep now. You require sleep for optimal self-repair.”

“Healing, Nines, it's called healing in humans.”

“You need sleep to heal.”

Gavin was trying to look at Nines, but his eyelids were drooping and his body sluggish. “Nines…”

“Sleep, Gavin,” Nines murmured. “I'll still be here.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> SomethingorOther and Bibiroo decided they didn't want to wait until Monday, so have another bribe chapter! Thank you so much!


	13. Da Sex*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which da sex happens. Or starts to happen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Let's be real, this is the chapter you've all been waiting for.
> 
> It's been augmented by kao's art!

Honestly, Gavin didn't even know when it happened. Yes, the hospital was where they had their first kiss, but that hardly counted, with Gavin high as a fucking kite on a morphine drip and Nines wrestling with the inevitability of human death. Somehow, over the course of Gavin's recovery, they went from slow, reverent handjobs to _this_ , celebrating his clearance to return to the office on Monday by stumbling down the hall trying to devour the other's tongue without waking Essie.

They managed to get into Gavin's room without either of them falling on their asses, but then Nines shoved Gavin against the door with a growl that sent shivers down his spine in the very _best_ way. It felt like Nines was trying to tongue-fuck his throat, and those were definitely clever plastic fingers shoving his jacket off his shoulders and snaking his belt free. Gavin was honestly helpless beneath Nines' onslaught, clutching at the android's own jacket and knowing better than to strip him. Nines was possessive of his clothes.

 

" _Shirt_ ," Nines growled, breaking away from Gavin's mouth to let him breathe.

Gavin sucked in as much air as he could, snatching at the back of his collar and yanking it over his head. "Door," he gasped as he stripped. "Lock it..."

Nines' hand slipped around Gavin, locking the door to ensure Essie wouldn't get an eyeful of something thoroughly inappropriate. He grabbed Gavin's hands just before they were free of the t-shirt, slamming them over his head with the cotton wrapped around them still.

 _Fuck_ , why was that so hot? Gavin moaned, twisting his wrists against Nines' strong grasp. Nines was dragging his tongue down Gavin's throat, long, steady, _methodical_ licks...the android was covering every inch of his skin, analyzing him like he were a crime scene.

Nines bit into Gavin's shoulder, not hard enough to draw blood, but definitely hard enough to leave a mark. Gavin's head fell back against the door as Nines worried the flesh between his teeth, sucking harshly against Gavin's skin. "God, Nines, _yes_..." Nines' free hand was on his fly, pulling it open and palming Gavin's dick through his boxers. Gavin groaned, rocking against those strong fingers, trying to twist and wiggle to get skin on skin contact through the flap.

Nines pulled away from Gavin's shoulder. Gavin watched those gray eyes focus on the bruise he'd left, head tilting to the side as the android analyzed. It was so fucking _unfair_ that androids didn't sweat or squirm or become at all disheveled from getting hot and heavy. The only sign on Nines' face of what they were doing was the slight flush to his cheeks. His LED was yellow, but that wasn't unusual for Nines, who seemed to live his life in a perpetual state of distress or confusion.

Gavin was going to make that light blue by the end of this if it killed him.

"Bed?" Gavin suggested, licking his lips. "Cause fuck, Nines, hot as this is, I'm still sore..." The bandages were off, new pink skin covering the bullet holes, but Gavin still felt a bit of an ache if he stretched the wrong way. He wasn't sure if his abs would thank him for a round of wall sex just yet.

Nines looked down at Gavin's injuries and nodded. He took a step back, letting Gavin's arms drop. Gavin gripped the t-shirt in his hands, not letting it fall. Nines had kept his arms pinned and trapped. Maybe he liked it? Gavin was nothing if not accommodating to his partner's kinks. He kept the shirt around his wrists as he moved toward the bed. Nines' fingers hooked into Gavin's waistband, catching him up and yanking down. Gavin yelped, making an ungraceful stumble and fall, barely catching himself on the mattress.

Androids were _fucking impossible_. Before Gavin could even register what was happening, he was naked on his back, Nines hauling him up against his pillows and crouching over his body like a cat with his kill.

"You are seriously gonna give me a danger kink..." Gavin muttered as the android's sharp eyes skimmed over his body. Nines could easily rip his body apart. His growls were feral enough to send thugs fleeing with their piss running down their legs. He knew every last one of Gavin's weak points and Gavin had never been so fucking hard in his _life_.

Nines' eyes snapped back up to Gavin's at that mutter, suddenly soft and worried, his LED spinning red. He kissed Gavin gently, hands smoothing over Gavin's chest soothingly. Gavin groaned in frustration, hooking a leg around Nines' thigh and arching his hips off the bed to grind against the android.

"No, Nines, I _know_ you're not going to hurt me. It's just that you _could_ that makes it so...fuck, just chalk it up to humans are weird? I trust you."

 _There_ was the stab of blue LED Gavin wanted, and Nines was kissing him properly again, wet and deep, pressing Gavin against the mattress. He curled his fingers into Gavin's hips, grinding his own erection against Gavin's before forcing him back to the bed.

Nines broke away from Gavin's mouth to lick down his neck again, his shoulders, his chest. His fingers dug bruises into Gavin's hips, keeping him from doing much more than squirm and cry out fruitlessly.

Nines' tongue swept across Gavin's nipples and through his chest hair, never stopping to linger. He kept moving down, resuming his earlier attempt to lick every square inch of Gavin's body. Gavin twitched away from the tongue in his pits and the sensitive line beneath his ribs, moaning in anticipation as Nines lapped at his navel and continued even lower. He pressed his own wrists against the pillows over his head, keeping them restrained in the shirt, though he was tugging and pulling at the fabric in desperation, needing to clutch at _something_.

Nines licked across Gavin's thigh and...and kept _going_? "Nines, _fuck_!" The android glanced up at him from Gavin's right knee, gray eyes laughing at Gavin's despair. "Asshole...fucking _cocktease_!"

Nines released Gavin's hips in favor of his foot, dragging his tongue across the sole. Gavin twisted, shoving his face to the side as his hips bucked off the bed in search of _any_ friction for his dripping cock. "I'm gonna fucking kick you in the teeth if you keep that up!" Nines kissed the heel of Gavin's foot before releasing it and moving to his left one. There was no stopping an android on a mission. Gavin could only moan as Nines began treating his left leg to the same attention he gave his right, but in reverse.

" _Thank fuck..._ " Gavin breathed shakily as Nines licked up his left thigh, tongue dragging the hairs against the grain and making Gavin shiver. Nines had finally covered every inch of his body except his groin. There _couldn't_ be any more delay. Gavin's dick was absolutely _aching_ for something, _anything_.

Nines delicately bit at the top of Gavin's thigh, his fingers curling around Gavin's hips again. Those gray eyes met Gavin's own, and Gavin groaned, spreading his legs shamelessly. Nines smirked. The android fucking _smirked_ at him, and Gavin yelped as Nines flipped him over.

No... _fuck_ , Nines' tongue was dragging up his spine and there was his whole _back_ for the android to lick and kiss. At least there was a mattress beneath his dick now, and Gavin could drag his hips against it, chasing any sort of relief from this exquisite torment. "Fuck, Nines, you bastard...!"

Nines' fingers tightened on his hips and now Gavin _did_ sob as Nines dragged him back and off the bed. His arms and chest were still on the mattress, but his knees hit the floor and Nines was holding him too far back to rut against the blankets like a horny teenager. "Nines, _please_ , please, Nines, I need..." Nines' tongue dragged over Gavin's ass, followed by his hands. Gavin sucked in a breath as Nines' thumbs slid down his crack and pulled him open. Was Nines going to lick him _there_? Gavin hadn't done anything to prep himself, and while it wasn't like he was walking around with a swamp ass, he hadn't showered since this morning and _oh fucking hell!_

Nines didn't even hesitate, sweeping his tongue over Gavin's hole before stabbing it in. Gavin could only sob against the blankets as Nines worked him open, first with his tongue and then adding a finger, two fingers, probing deeper, kissing his ass as thoroughly as he had kissed Gavin's mouth.

 

There was still a small part of Gavin's brain fully aware that the world's most expensive crime lab was literally _in his ass_ right now, but mostly Gavin only cared about pushing back against Nines' face and fingers. There was _nothing_ on his dick, and Nines was so maddeningly close to his prostate but not quite there, only rubbing against the very edge and making Gavin writhe. "Fuck, Nines, fuck, _please_ Nines, please touch me, fuck me, _anything_...!"

Gavin could feel how Nines grinned against his ass, those long fingers pulling out and gripping his hip again. Gavin moaned, his knees sliding even further apart.

Nines flipped Gavin again, opening his mouth and swallowing Gavin's dick all the way to the base. Gavin swore he screamed, but no sound came out. Nines' tongue was moving along his shaft, the tight silicone of his throat hugging Gavin's head, and that was it. Gavin came so hard his vision went spotty behind his eyelids, filling Nines' throat with his jizz.

Nines sucked until Gavin was limp against the bed, still bent backwards over the mattress. He withdrew slowly, nuzzling and licking at Gavin's spent balls. Gavin chuckled weakly: Nines really was hell bent on licking him _all_ over.

"Fucking hell..." Gavin tugged his arms free from the twisted mess of his t-shirt as Nines eased him back onto the bed. He reached down, pushing his fingers through Nines' perfect hair. The android turned into the caress, a shy, sweet little smile that totally did not match his fucking _wicked_ tongue. "God, you're incredible..."

Nines' LED was blue now, flickering beneath the cracks. Gavin rubbed his thumb over it and smiled back. "What about you?" he asked. He let his eyes drag down Nines' body to where his pants were still tented over an erection. Gavin wasn't sure he had the coordination to do all that much right now. He could barely drop his hand along Nines just to rub at the bulge. "You gonna get off?"

Gavin didn't know if Nines even _could_ get off. Their bedroom adventures had thus far been incredibly one-sided, with Nines flinging Gavin into some of the best orgasms he could remember and then immediately shushing him into sleep afterwards. He hadn't been in much condition to protest, what with his injuries and medication and the sinful pleasure of Nines’ lips wrapped around him. Nines seemed to prioritize getting Gavin into his mouth over everything else, including stripping his own clothes off. Gavin couldn't entirely blame him, knowing how self-conscious Nines was about his scars, but he was getting very tired of never being able to get his own mouth on the android's body.

“C'mon, Nines, please? No more open wounds…” Gavin stretched on the bed, letting Nines drink in the sight of his unbandaged body as he massaged Nines’ crotch.

Nines bit at his lip, dropping his gaze. He rolled his hips slowly against Gavin's fingers, but then he reached forward and touched Gavin's inner thigh, nudging his legs apart. Gavin shifted, bracing his feet on the bed and lifted his hips, offering his ass to the android. "You wanna fuck me?"

Nines pressed his thumb against Gavin's wet hole, pushing just inside. Gavin made a soft, pleased sound. He wasn't a kid anymore. It would take a bit before his own dick was up for a round two, but after that thorough worshipping, Nines absolutely deserved some of his own relief. "Go ahead," he murmured. "I'm all yours..." Still, Nines hesitated. He glanced up at Gavin's face again, seemingly searching for something. Gavin smiled at him, squeezing at Nines' dick. "Fuck me, Nines," he whispered. "I want to feel you inside me, filling me up..."

He wasn't even just being polite, or needy, Gavin realized. He wasn't lying to Nines at all. He wanted Nines deep inside him, connected with him. He wanted Nines more now, still lost in his afterglow, than he'd ever wanted any of his partners before, even when they had him tied up and begging for it. He didn't _need_ Nines...but he wanted him.

Nines closed his eyes and shivered. His LED was still mostly blue, but it occasionally circled yellow. Was he thinking? Trying to plan out how to do this?

Nines pulled back from Gavin and tugged his jacket off. He dropped it off the side of the bed. He wore a long-sleeved turtleneck beneath the jacket, which he paused over before pulling that off as well.

Gavin's breath caught in his throat at the sign of complete trust. Nines didn't show his body to _anyone_. Gavin hadn't even been able to get his hands on the bulk of the android's skin, so thoroughly did Nines layer and overlap his clothes. He had only ever removed his jacket in Gavin's presence, or, sometimes, his socks, but only if Gavin protested enough that it was weird to wear socks in bed.

Beneath the turtleneck was a white cotton undershirt tucked into Nines’ belted pants. Nines didn't move. His LED was yellow now, with the occasional red glitter. He pulled his hands away from Gavin and covered his own arms. They were thicker than Connor's but not obscenely so, with perfect muscles brought to life with nanotechnology. Fern-like scars spread down his limbs and up his neck, beautiful in their design, ugly in their implication.

Gavin sat up and stroked his hands down the exposed damage. He pressed his lips to the scar spreading up Nines' neck. "We match," he murmured. Nines' arms folded around Gavin, holding him tightly against his chest. Gavin gave the neck scar a lick. It felt no different from a normal human scar beneath his tongue, the skin taut and uneven. "Do whatever you're comfortable with, Nines."

Nines took a breath he didn't need, pressing a kiss to Gavin's hair before pushing him back to the bed. He manhandled Gavin onto his uninjured side, and Gavin smiled, closing his eyes as Nines settled behind him.

There was a clink of a belt and more fabric hitting the floor, and then Nines pulled the blankets up over both of them. Gavin pressed back against Nines' chest. The undershirt was expected. The bare cock pressed against his ass? Not so much. Gavin grinned and gave a wiggle. Nines growled in his ear, helping his dick give a valiant twitch.

"C'mon, Nines," Gavin teased, reaching back for Nines’ bare arms, needing to touch his skin again. "I know you wanna fuck me..."

Nines' fingers pressed back into Gavin's ass, two at first, his dick sliding along Gavin's crack. He was taking his time to make sure Gavin wasn't about to be hurt. Gavin dragged Nines' other arm beneath him, lacing their fingers together. Now didn't seem like a good time to say he was used to taking it rough.

Nines pulled his fingers out and _pushed_. Gavin's head tipped back to Nines' shoulder as he moaned. There was an android inside him. There was an android _fucking_ him, and a year ago Gavin would have been horrified by this, but now? Now Gavin could only melt at the way Nines' arms folded around him and he growled " _Mine_ ," into the nape of Gavin's neck.

"Yours," Gavin agreed. Nines' arms tightened briefly, then relaxed. He wasn't moving, wasn't fucking Gavin, was just... _there_. Filling him, wrapped around him, holding him...

"Go to sleep?" It wasn't quite a question, wasn't quite a statement. Nines' voice was quiet and hesitant, like he wasn't sure he was allowed to ask for this.

"Mm? But you haven't..." Gavin rolled his hips, but Nines reached down and stopped him with one strong hand.

"I want..." Nines trailed off, unable to vocalize just _what_ he wanted.

Gavin twisted as much as he could to look at Nines. Nines looked back with his gray eyes speaking volumes, and _fuck_ , whatever idiot said androids couldn't have feelings needed to be taken out back and shot.

"Fucking weird-ass androids," Gavin murmured fondly, catching at Nines' head and kissing him, choosing to not think about where that mouth had been. "Good night, Nines." He smiled and shifted back into his partner's chest, finding a comfortable position with the android's dick still deep inside his body. He smoothed his hands over Nines’ scarred arms, feeling the android shiver behind him, one hand dropping between his legs to just cup Gavin gently.

"I love you."

The words slipped out without a thought. Gavin had gone from never saying them at all to saying them to Essie with the barest amount of prompting. He never wanted her to doubt or wonder if he actually gave a shit about her, especially not after Kent Jones had gotten his hands on her for the last time.

Somehow, saying the words to Essie robbed them off the powerful fear Gavin thought he'd have about saying them to a lover. Or maybe it was just Nines. Whatever the reason, Gavin didn't tense in fear or worry. Nines was holding him, inside him, around him, stripped of most of his protective layers of cloth, and Gavin just...loved him. He closed his eyes, letting himself relax. It was that simple. Easy.


	14. Morning After*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin wakes up to reality.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Give kao some thanks for their incredible art!

Waking up with Nines’ strong arms around him, his lips against the back of Gavin's neck, and his hand between Gavin's legs was something Gavin was still getting used to. He sighed and stretched against the android, feeling deliciously full. Nines’ fingers were stroking languidly against his morning wood, like they had been every morning this week. Nines had an obsession with Gavin's dick and balls that Gavin really wasn't interested in breaking him of. No better way to start a day, he figured.

Except this time, when he stretched, Nines gave a grunt and Gavin's ass twinged. Gavin stopped moving immediately. He felt full because _Nines was_ _still inside him_. Last night came flooding back: Gavin getting cleared to return to work, the heated makeout session on the couch that led to an ungraceful stumble into the bedroom and Nines getting his mouth _all_ over Gavin's body. Gavin moaned softly, rocking back against Nines’ body, feeling the shift of Nines’ hard cock within him. Nines clamped one hand on Gavin's hip, holding him in place.

Gavin twisted to kiss Nines over his shoulder, letting the android indulge in entirely too much tongue. Nines never seemed to mind morning breath (or have it, the lucky bastard). “Good morning,” Gavin murmured. “Getting started without me?”

Nines shook his head, hiding his face in Gavin's shoulder. “Never stopped,” he whispered against Gavin's skin.

“What, seriously?” Gavin reached back, palming his hand over Nines’ bare hip and ass and _fuck_ , Nines had taken his pants off completely last night.

Just the thought of Nines’ _legs_ being bare was enough to get Gavin groaning, never mind the thought of Nines being hard all night long, stuffing Gavin's ass and just _holding_. “You never came?” Nines shook his head against Gavin's back, his soft hair brushing against him. Gavin tightened his grip, digging his fingers into Nines’ firm ass as Nines continued to toy with his dick, fingertips dipping down to tease at his balls. “ _Jesus_ , Nines, is this some sort of android thing? I'd bust a nut trying to keep it up all night!”

“There are no negative side effects of my maintaining an erect phallus for thus far 8.395 hours,” Nines said, managing to make even arousal unsexy. “What is your status?”

“My status?” Gavin laughed and gave a roll of his hips, testing Nines’ grip. Nines let him move, shifting his hand to circle around Gavin's cock and letting him thrust into it. “Good,” he sighed, closing his eyes. He tipped his head back against Nines’ shoulder, grinning as Nines proceeded to lick along his jaw and throat. “ _Real_ good.” Whatever Nines had used in his ass last night--just android spit?--was still there, letting Nines slide inside him without any discomfort. Gavin was thoroughly stretched around Nines’ cock.

“You feel good, Nines.” Gavin rolled again, pulling away from Nines and pushing back down, building up a slow, easy rhythm. “So good inside me, filling me just right. This is what you wanted all along, ever since you followed me to that club, isn't it? How'd it feel for you, huh? Buried inside me all night, just feeling me wrapped around your dick...must've felt fucking _amazing_. Humans are warmer than androids, bet your dick was nice and warm all night long. Bet you were just listening to me breathing, feeling my heartbeat, holding my dick like it belonged to you all night long…”

Nines didn't need to breathe at all, so the fact that his breathing had picked up against Gavin's shoulder could only be a good sign. It had to be, because the android wasn't giving any other indication of his pleasure. He wasn't even so much as twitching his hips in response to Gavin's movements.

Gavin twisted against Nines, curving to look over his shoulder. “Nines?” The android met his eyes, desperate and lost.

Nines hadn't kissed like a human the first time he kissed Gavin. Why did Gavin assume he'd fuck like one? “Ever done this before?” he asked. Nines gave a mute shake of his head, his LED mostly yellow.

Gavin smiled and pushed at his hip. “Pull out, get on your back. I'll teach you.”

A groan escaped as Nines pulled back, his shaft dragging at Gavin's rim. He gasped as they separated, already aching to have Nines back inside.

Nines rolled onto his back, looking up trustingly at Gavin. Gavin straddled his hips, rubbing back against the android's erection as he took in the beautiful feast below him. Nines’ arms and neck were bare, melted lines of scars crawling over his skin. Only a thin white t-shirt covered his broad chest. Gavin pushed his hands beneath the hem, but Nines caught his wrists, a bolt of red cycling through his LED.

“Please, Nines?” Gavin leaned forward to catch Nines’ mouth, dipping his tongue past those soft lips. “Please, I want to see you, touch you, _taste_ you, please Nines, please…”

Nines squeezed Gavin's wrists briefly, then let go. His LED was red, but he lifted his arms above his head, resting them on the pillow. “I trust you,” the android whispered.

He was terrified. This went above and beyond first time jitters. Nines had some severe body shame, and he was actually trembling from the thought that Gavin would somehow reject him for having scars.

Gavin only knew one way to calm Nines down. He kissed Nines again, dragging his shirt up slowly. Nines wasn't breathing, and he returned the kiss desperately, devouring Gavin's mouth even though he kept his hands raised.

Breaking the kiss, Gavin tugged Nines’ shirt off completely and dropped it over the side of the bed. He sat up, dragging his hands across the expanse of Nines’ bare chest.

Like Connor, Nines’ sculpted muscles were present without being overbearing, though he was a bit more ripped than the leaner model. He was completely devoid of body hair, though his skin was decorated with artistic moles and freckles even here. When Nines was brand new off the production line, he would have been painfully beautiful in his perfection.

Nines was not brand new, and his body spoke of the suffering inflicted on him. Nines’ shoulders were knotted masses of layered scars. Gavin could (and did) trace the path of electric burns across his body, drawing lines over Nines’ chest and arms. “Fuck, Nines,” Gavin breathed. “You're incredible…”

 

Before Nines could protest, Gavin dipped down, kissing that scar that crawled up Nines’ neck and following it back to its source. He dragged his tongue along the lines, stopping to tease at a bisected nipple. Nines gasped, his hands sinking into Gavin's hair.

Gavin covered as much of Nines’ chest as he could reach in kisses and licks, laving the android's scars with his tongue and reassuring him with contact that Gavin was not disgusted by the damage. He rolled his ass against Nines’ dick and leaned back up to kiss him.

“I'd suck you off,” Gavin purred against Nines’ lips, “but I know where your dick has been all night. Next time.”

“Next…?” Nines’ LED circled yellow, his pale eyes wide. He clung to Gavin's sides as if Gavin was the only thing keeping him from being swept away in a deluge of disbelief.

“You think you're the only one who's been dreaming about a dick in your mouth?” Gavin asked. He kissed Nines again, coaxing the android's tongue out to play and sucking on it like he wanted to do to the hard cock rubbing between his cheeks. Nines gave a garbled moan that Gavin immediately knew he wanted to hear again and again.

Nines did not fall apart as easily as Gavin did, but Gavin was determined to wring a reaction out of the android. He dragged his hands possessively over Nines’ scarred body, rocking against his dick as he teased Nines’ nipples and sides and hips. He thoroughly abused the sensitivity of Nines’ tongue, sucking and licking and even dragging his teeth lightly against the synthetic muscle. Nines flinched from that and Gavin apologized with his own tongue.

Beneath him, Nines was starting to give small little jerks of his hips, searching for a better angle against Gavin's body. Gavin chuckled, breaking away from Nines’ mouth to kiss across his jaw. “Wanna finish what you started last night?”

Nines nodded, closing his eyes as Gavin's lips found his ear. “ _Tell me_ ,” Gavin whispered. “Tell me what you want…”

“You,” Nines whispered back. His hands dragged down to Gavin's hips, strong and commanding. “I want you, I want to be inside you, to interface with you, I want…”

Gavin took pity on the babbling android, reaching back to grip his dick. Nines was so hard in his hand, more of that slick fluid from last night dribbling down his shaft. Gavin stroked him a couple times to spread the slickness, drawing another one of those garbled moans from Nines’ throat. He angled his body, meeting Nines’ eyes as he pressed against the head of Nines’ cock.

Nines dragged Gavin's hips down, pressing their bodies together. Gavin groaned as Nines filled him again, thick and hard.

“Did that feel good?” Gavin asked, not even pretending he had the coordination to do much more than pant against Nines’ throat. He licked the scar beneath his mouth, reveling in the way Nines shuddered and clamped down harder on his hips, fingers digging in enough to bruise. The android nodded, chin knocking against Gavin's head, and Gavin laughed against his skin. “ _Then let's do it again_.” He flexed his legs, pulling himself off Nines’ dick and shoving back down. It had been a while since he'd last ridden someone like this, but it wasn't something he forgot easily.

Nines shuddered and whined beneath him, static distorting his voice. After a few rolls, he seemed to realize that thrusting was definitely better than just lying still, and he put his strength into helping Gavin move, harder and faster, his dick shoving deep inside Gavin's body.

Gavin spread his hands against Nines’ solid chest as he fucked himself on the android. He kept moving, adjusting the angle until he could drive Nines against his prostate with every thrust. He cried out and bit his lip, belatedly remembering that Essie was only a couple rooms away. She _should_ still be asleep, but Gavin didn't want to wake her up with the sounds of sex.

Except Nines took some initiative and wrapped one hand around Gavin's dick, jerking him off with the exact same rhythm of their bodies. Gavin surged down to kiss Nines again, using the android's mouth to muffle his desperate pleas for more, harder, _faster_. Nines obliged, thrusting deep and hard until Gavin couldn't contain himself any longer.

Nines kept up the punishing pace through Gavin's orgasm, whining statically into Gavin's mouth. He shuddered and cried out, his LED cycling through all his colors before he collapsed beneath Gavin, limp and still save for the throbbing of his thirium pump.

Gavin laughed, moaning slightly as he pulled his aching body off of Nines. He dotted kisses against Nines’ smooth cheeks and fluttering eyelids. “Was that your first time coming?” he asked, his voice a low murmur.

Nines nodded, finally opening his eyes. His LED was a solid blue, and there was a dazed wonderment in his gaze. Gavin grinned, smoothing his hands over Nines’ chest. Nines was not sticky with sweat, but Gavin's jizz was smeared across his stomach. Gavin scrutinized the mess, then glanced up to see Nines watching him shyly.

Sweeping his fingers through the semen, Gavin drew them across Nines’ scars. “You are fucking _gorgeous_ , Nines.”

The sweet little smile Nines gave Gavin was the polar opposite of how he caught Gavin's hand and dragged it to his mouth, licking his fingers clean. His tongue swiped over every inch of Gavin's skin, gaze locked on Gavin's, and the man could only groan. “Fuck, Nines, can every day start like this? Forever?”

Nines dragged Gavin down for another kiss, the first of many. Gavin made himself comfortable on Nines’ chest, wiping up the mess between them with a corner of the sheets first. They traded lazy kisses without words, just touching and caressing each other, coaxing gentle sighs and murmurs out. Gavin whispered “ _I love you,_ ” against Nines’ hair, and Nines spelled the sentiment out across Gavin's back.

And then the doorknob rattled.

Gavin pulled away from Nines’ mouth, both of them looking to the door. There was a knock, and then Essie's little voice. “Daddy? Um...are you hurt again?”

Gavin tried to sit up, but his ass protested the sudden change in position. Fun as it was to wake up with Nines still hard inside him, Gavin was going to be paying for it for at least the rest of the day. "Shit..." Gavin ducked his head against Nines' shoulder with a weak laugh. "I, uh...I don't think I can walk just yet..."

Nines kissed Gavin's cheek and slipped out of bed. He began dressing. Gavin forced himself to _not_ watch, giving Nines some privacy. Instead, he dragged his fingers through his hair and debated if he could reach his boxers. "I'm fine, Essie, just a minute!"

Nines scooped up Gavin's pants and tossed them at him before crossing the room. Gavin managed to get his boxers on and jeans hidden beneath the blankets before Nines unlocked the door and pulled it open. Essie bounced on her toes, beaming up at him. "Good morning, Nines! Wanna help me make..." Gavin watched in slow horror as Essie's smile broke and reformed, her LED going from blue straight to red. "...breakfast for Daddy?" she finished with much less enthusiasm, actually leaning away from Nines.

Nines frowned at her, his own LED yellow again, but he gave a nod. Essie nodded back. "How about...how about you get started and I'll be right there?"

Nines glanced back at Gavin, looking at a loss. Gavin flicked his fingers, gesturing for Nines to go. "Everything okay, Essie-Bess?"

"Yeah, I just wanna talk to you." Essie twisted her hands in her pajama shirt. "In privateness?"

Nines frowned again, but he nodded, slipping past Essie and down the hall. Essie darted inside, slamming Gavin's door shut and locking it before flying into Gavin's arms. He barely had time to confirm the blankets were firmly tucked around his waist before he had his daughter sniffling against his neck.

"Essie, shh, shh, it's okay. You're okay." Gavin stroked Essie's thick braid, which was falling to pieces after a night of sleeping on it. "What's wrong, kiddo?"

"If..." Essie drew back, scrubbing at her wet eyes. "Daddy, if...if anyone touches _you_ like _that_ , you know you gotta kick em in the balls and run for help...right?"

Oh. Yep, Essie had cottoned on to the fact that he and Nines had had sex and was (understandably) freaking out. "Essie, kiddo, I know. I know, and I absolutely will. Okay?" Gavin cupped Essie's head in his hands, wiping his thumbs across her cheeks. "But it's okay. Nines didn't hurt me. I promise."

Essie sniffled again, reaching over to touch the very impressive hickey forming on Gavin's shoulder. It was purple and red now, an imprint of Nines' mouth that Gavin was going to carry for a little while. "They did that to me too," she whispered. "Daddy, you don't have to lie to protect him..."

"Essie..." Gavin was so not prepared to have The Talk with his abused android child so early in the morning immediately after some of the best sex of his life, but he knew he couldn't delay this. He adjusted the pillows against the headboard, then settled back, dragging her with him. She tucked her head against his shoulder, and he looped his arms around her waist. "Essie, when two adults like each other very much, they'll start to do things like kiss and cuddle, and if they _really_ like each other, they'll have sex. And if both adults want to have sex, then sex is really good."

"Sex is really _bad_ ," Essie whispered. "It's horrible and it hurts and it's mean and he's mean and he hurts you and Nines hurt you, Daddy!"

"Nines didn't hurt me, kiddo. And I didn't hurt Nines." Gavin closed his eyes, pressing his cheek to his daughter's hair as she clung to him and cried. Different tactic, maybe? "Essie, are you an adult?"

Essie shook her head.

"If even one person having sex isn't an adult, then you're right, it's _bad_. It's very, very bad, and mean, and it hurts you. Any sex that is done to _you_ , Essie, is bad sex, and you should kick the adult or other kid in the nuts and run away."

"Why is it bad for me and not bad for you?" Essie asked. "Is it like bad words?"

" _No_." God, Gavin hated his solution to "bad words." Essie paid close attention to every swear that escaped Gavin's lips and saved them up to use all at once. Gavin clearly hadn't thought the policy through.

He didn't want Essie to think that she could have sex every time he had sex, though. Essie was a _child_. Yes, Elijah was working on older bodies for her, but right now, she was seven at the oldest. Sex was never acceptable at seven. "Essie, sex is how mommies and daddies say they love each other. It's very special between mommies and daddies. I'm your daddy, right?" Essie nodded. "And Nines is like your other daddy?" Essie's nod was slower this time. "This morning, Nines and I said 'I love you' to each other with our whole bodies, because we're both adults and we're both your daddies. And yes, I know it _looks_ like I got hurt," Gavin touched the bruise on his shoulder, "but because Nines and I both wanted it, neither of us got hurt."

"But what if you didn't want it?" Essie asked.

"If I _didn't_ want it, or if Nines had really hurt me, I would have kicked him in the balls and ran," Gavin said. Not that it really would have done much good. Probably only Connor could actually stop Nines if he didn't want to be stopped, and even that was debatable. Essie didn't know that, however, and Gavin was not about to tell her.

"I still don't know how it can be good when it's bad," Essie whispered. "It _hurts_ , Daddy!"

Gavin was quiet, trying to think of a way to explain the difference between sex and rape. "Does this hurt?" he asked, squeezing his arms around her waist. She shook her head. "Does it make you feel sad or scared?"

"No, Daddy. I like it when you hug me." Essie lifted her face to look at Gavin. "When you're hugging me, nothing can hurt me ever."

Gavin smiled, squeezing her again. "God, I love you, kiddo. But...did _they_ ever hug you?"

Essie's eyes went old and distant. She nodded mutely.

Gavin tucked some of her hair behind her ear. "Did you like it?"

She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head.

"If sex is between two adults who both want it, then it's like a hug I give you. And if there's a kid or someone who doesn't want it, it's like the hugs they'd give you. Still a hug, but a bad hug."

Essie's LED was spinning yellow as she considered. "Even though you got hurt?"

Gavin sighed, wishing he'd at least pulled his shirt on before Essie saw him. "Even though I got hurt. It's...you know when you play with Tugger, and he scratches you?"

"He doesn't mean to scratch me!" Essie quickly assured Gavin. "He just gets really excited!"

Gavin chuckled. "Nines got really excited too. He didn't mean to hurt me, and I didn't get mad at him because it didn't really hurt. Just like you and Tugger."

Essie chewed on her lip, tapping her fingers along Gavin's arm before lacing them through his larger ones. "You promise you'd kick him if he really hurts you or does sex and you don't want it?"

"I promise," Gavin said, squeezing her little fingers. "Right in the balls. And then I'll arrest him."

"Cause you're police!"

"Cause I'm police." Gavin kissed her forehead. "You okay now?"

Essie took a deep breath and hugged Gavin around the neck. She nodded beneath his chin. "I'm okay now...but your room smells bad!"

Gavin sniffed. It didn't smell _that_ bad, just maybe a bit...strongly of sex... Was that how Essie figured it out?

"I'll clean it today, okay?"

"Okay."

Gavin touched his nose to Essie's. She giggled and gave him a bunny kiss, rubbing their noses together. "Now...I believe you were gonna make me breakfast?"

"Yes!" Essie scrambled out of bed and toward the door. "Don't come in the kitchen yet it's gonna be a surprise!"

She unlocked the door and opened it. Nines stood on the other side with a steaming mug of coffee in one hand. Essie hesitated, looking up at him. He looked down at her.

"If you _ever_ hurt my daddy," Essie declared, half the RK900's height and a mere fraction of his size, "I'm gonna kick you in the balls _so hard_. Got it, bub?" She poked him in the stomach.

Nines tilted his head to the side. He switched the mug to his left hand and extended his right to her, displaying the scar he usually tried to conceal. "Why would I hurt your daddy?" he asked. "We match. Us matched people must stick together."

Essie's mouth dropped open. Was this the first time Nines had ever spoken words to her? Gavin watched as Essie's eyes overflowed with tears again and she wrapped her arms around Nines' waist. He hesitated, glancing to Gavin, then set his right hand along her back.

"I love you, Nines," Essie whispered fiercely. "I'm glad you're my second daddy."

Nines' eyes went wide, and his LED went blue, and Gavin snatched his phone to take a picture. He couldn't join the hug himself, but he could sit in bed grinning like a loon at this family. _His_ family.

He was so glad this was his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also give Chowbot and an anonymous giver some thanks for the bribes that unlocked this chapter!
> 
> You guys have brought me up to 1/3 of a new iPad. I'm crying over here! ;u;


	15. Fire*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin is not glad this is his life.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I do love the way that kao colors intense scenes...

An explosion shook the apartment, shattering the windows and hurling Gavin from his sleep. He jerked upright, looking around frantically. Beside him, untangling his hands from inside Gavin's pants, Nines was lighting up the room with his red LED.

Essie started to scream.

Gavin bolted out of bed, grateful that he'd insisted he and Nines both started redressing at least partially before falling asleep. As much as he loved waking up with Nines pressed against him and nothing between them, the risk of Essie catching a glimpse of something was not worth it.

The smoke alarms were already going off. Essie was running down the hall toward Gavin's room, her arms full of Tugger. At the end of the hall, flickering yellow light was illuminating more of the apartment than it should at this hour.

Gavin grabbed Essie, but he was otherwise frozen, staring at the black smoke billowing down the hall. Strong hands grabbed his arms and threw him back into the bedroom. Gavin fell back as Nines rushed down the hall, his white leather coat thrown on over the undershirt and jeans he'd been wearing in bed.

“Daddy!”

“Are you okay?” Gavin ran his hands over Essie, checking her over for any burns or...well, melting, right? He remembered Connor lying on the ground outside a burning building, smoking faintly where his clothes had started to smolder and being concerned about the integrity of his chassis. Essie seemed solid, no hotter than normal beneath his hands.

Essie nodded, sniffling, tears welling up in her eyes. “That scared me, and it scared Tugger. He's all puffy now…”

Tugger, clasped firmly in Essie's arms, was indeed three times bigger than normal, his fur standing on end, pupils dilated, claws dug in to the android girl as if holding on for dear life. Essie didn't seem to notice the drops of blue blood easing out from beneath his paws.

Nines ran back into the bedroom, slamming the door behind him. Gavin looked up. “Nines?”

“Gas,” Nines answered, crossing to the window and shoving the glass-coated curtains back. Some of the smoke in the bedroom curled out into the cool night, and sirens and screams were filling the air. “Trapped.”

 _Trapped._ Gavin had seen enough aftermaths of fires to have an idea of what that meant. The floor was unstable (or gone, there had been an _explosion_ ) or the front hall was full of flames. Or both. Gavin swallowed and pushed himself to his feet, moving to Nines’ side.

They were on the eighth floor. The door was too dangerous to escape through. That left the windows. The windows on the _eighth floor_. Far below were the swirling lights of fire trucks and tiny people moving in a frantic flurry. Flames were licking out the windows to Gavin's right, both above and below. Gavin couldn't tell how large the explosion was beyond that, but they had been just on the edge.

Nines’ red LED was cycling, the occasional yellow flicker indicating he was processing something. Gavin swallowed again, reaching over to grip Nines’ hand. “Connor...jumped out of a third story window with a baby…” Smashed his shoulder up, yes, but Connor had managed to survive. Could Nines do the same thing?

There was a big difference between three stories and eight stories, though. Five stories of difference.

But cats had a higher survival chance if they fell from a tenth story window over a second story one…

“You: less than one percent,” Nines said. “Essie: twelve percent. Me: eighty-nine percent.”

“None of those numbers are good,” Gavin whispered.

“Me and you, you: forty-three percent.”

“Still with eighty-nine percent for you?”

Nines was still. “...no.”

Gavin closed his eyes, squeezing Nines’ hand. The android turned his hand over to lace their fingers together. “What if you just took Essie?” he asked. “She's smaller, less fragile…”

“Her: seventy-two percent. Me: sixty-nine percent.”

Gavin let out his breath slowly. The numbers weren't good, but they were both better than two-thirds. “Last resort,” he said quietly. “If it's between that and dying in here, you take Essie and jump.”

“Leave you?” Nines asked, turning to look directly at Gavin.

“If it's between all of us dying or just me dying, hell yes, leave me,” Gavin snapped, closing his free hand into a fist to try to stop it from shaking. His home was _on fire_. His family was trapped. At the moment, short of a miracle from the fire brigade racing up outside the building, Gavin wasn't going to survive the night. “Better that you two, at least, survive.”

“No,” Nines whispered.

“ _Nines-_ ”

Nines cut Gavin off with a kiss. “I'll save her,” he promised. Gavin knew he meant it with his use of complete sentences. “It will not be _better_.”

Gavin did not know why Nines was so devoted to him. He did not know why Essie was. He swallowed past his fear and pulled Nines into another kiss. If this was his last night, he wanted to kiss his partner.

Essie leaned against Gavin's leg, and he broke from Nines’ mouth to crouch down and hug her and Tugger. She pressed her wet face tightly against his bare chest, and he kissed her hair. She would survive. He needed her to survive.

Nines moved across the room. He scooped up Gavin's discarded shirt and threw it at him before pressing his hand against the door. “Hot.”

The fire was in the hall outside the bedroom, a roaring, crackling monster of light and heat, devouring their home and turning this room into an oven. Gavin caught the shirt and tugged it on, then went to the bed and grabbed a pillow. He yanked the pillowcase off and offered it to Essie. “For Tugger,” he said. “To help protect him from the smoke.” The smoke that was curling around the edges of the door, accompanied by a low glow through the cracks.

Essie nodded, scooping Tugger's butt up and carefully lowering him into the pillowcase. Tugger gave a low whine, but the big cat didn't put up his usual fight at being restrained.

Was there anything in Gavin's room worth saving? He looked at his closet, then pulled the door open.

“Daddy?”

Essie was watching as Gavin dragged out a box and climbed on it, reaching for a shoebox on the top shelf. The air up here was already uncomfortably hot and thick. Coughing, he set the box on his bed and opened it.

This box was full of physical memories, things like tickets to concerts or pictures from Gavin's youth. His high school yearbook was in there, and the announcement of his graduation from the police academy. Gavin bypassed all of those for a small photo album. He opened it up, looking at the first picture: a senior photo of a beautiful young woman.

“Who's that?” Essie asked, clutching Tugger in the pillowcase and leaning against Gavin's leg again.

Gavin smiled sadly, running his finger along the curve of the woman's face. “This was my mother,” he said. “Your grandmother.” Sarah Reed had been a beautiful girl, but life as a single mother with no child support or family support had ravaged her youth.

She would have loved Essie. It wouldn't have mattered that Essie wasn't human or biologically Gavin's. Gavin loved Essie, so Sarah would have loved Essie. Gavin swallowed another cough, trying not to think of how, after thirty years, he might be reunited with his mother today. Instead, he closed the album and handed it to Essie. It held all the pictures Gavin had of his mother, most with him in them too, a smooth-faced child with no idea of the evils of the world. “You hold onto this,” he told her. “Keep it safe. You can give it back when we're all out of here.”

Essie nodded solemnly, accepting the book and tucking it into the pillowcase alongside Tugger. Gavin hugged her again, trying not to cough into her hair.

Nines was pacing the room, going from the door with smoke curling under it to the window to the walls. He was trailing his hands along the surfaces, his LED constantly cycling.

Suddenly, Nines froze, his hand against the far wall from the door. He looked back at the door, then the wall, then the door.

“Nines?” Gavin asked. He still had his arms around Essie, trying to memorize the feel of her body pressed against his.

Nines tapped his fingers along the wall before making a fist and punching straight through the wallboard. Gavin and Essie both jumped at the sudden violence.

“Nines, what the hell!?”

“Cooler.” Nines ripped at the wall, opening the hole up further. He punched again, tearing through the other side of the wall and into Gavin's neighbor's apartment.

Gavin's neighbor, whose apartment _wasn't on fire!_

“Nines, you are a fucking _genius_ ,” Gavin muttered, releasing Essie and helping Nines wrestle huge chunks of the wall away. The individual units were meant to be fire resistant, so tearing down this wall was bad for stopping the spread of the fire, but Gavin was willing to cause more property damage in order to save himself and his family.

Nines shoved his way through the wall between the metal studs, pushing the neighbor's couch aside and beckoning for Essie. Gavin held the pillowcase of cat and photo album while Essie squeezed through, then passed them. Nines nudged Essie back and reached for Gavin. He took the android's hands, which were white and powdery from the wall, and let Nines yank him through the opening.

Sixteen inches was barely enough for Gavin to fit through, made worse by the electrical wires running between them, but Nines helped untangle Gavin when he got his foot stuck, yanking him through.

“Essie, here!” Gavin grabbed Essie, pressing her against Nines’ back. She latched on, locking her legs around his waist and holding Tugger between their bodies. Nines grabbed her arms, keeping her close.

The smoke was already lighter in this room, though Gavin kept coughing. Nines went around the corner and into the front hall, flicking on the door cam.

The hallway was lit with a hellish glow beneath thick black smoke, but immediately in front of the door looked clear of flames. Nines turned to Gavin, holding his gaze for a moment. Gavin took Nines’ hand. “Run,” he whispered.

“Don't breathe,” Nines answered.

Gavin tugged the collar of his t-shirt over his mouth and nose, taking as deep of a breath as he dared, before pulling the door open. A wave of intense heat and choking smoke immediately flooded over them. Nines bolted into the hall, all but dragging Gavin as he fought to just stay upright.

The fire was _above_ them, racing through the ceiling tiles in the hall. Gavin ran barefoot over carpet that was practically melting from the heat. His body was ignoring any sense of pain in favor of just _escaping_. **_RUN!_** screamed the voice in Gavin's head.

 

Gavin couldn't see anything except for light and smoke. He couldn't even see Nines in front of him, trusting only in the firm hand clapping his. Essie was sobbing, and he could just make out her terror over the sound of the fire.

Nines stopped abruptly, and Gavin ran into Essie on his back. He sucked in a breath, dry cotton no match for the smoke. He was gagging, _choking_ , his throat full of burning ash.

The hand in his yanked and Gavin was pulled through a door and into a stairwell. The heavy door slammed shut, closing off the inferno for the moment. Thick smoke was still pouring up the open space like a chimney from the lower floors. Essie's sobs were echoing around the hard surfaces of the stairwell.

Nines shoved Gavin down and into a corner, pushing his head low. “Breathe!” he ordered Gavin. “Breathe now!”

Gavin sucked in only marginally cleaner air, coughing hoarsely as he tried to expel the smoke. His eyes were stinging from the heat and irritation, his clothes sticking to the sweat on his body from the intense heat. Nines held him down for not nearly long enough before he was hauling Gavin back to his feet. “Stairs!”

Blind from the smoke and tears, Gavin clung to Nines’ hand and stumbled after him. His heart seized every time they hit a landing and he expected another stair. He kept tripping over his own feet, falling against Essie and Nines.

Nines stopped again, and Gavin felt Essie get pulled away. He groaned, collapsing against Nines’ back, hearing the android snap “Keep going down!” Gavin tried to move, but all he could do was clutch at Nines’ jacket and cough. Nines reached behind, catching Gavin and hauling _him_ into his back. Gavin slumped against Nines’ shoulder as the android started to run down the stairs.

Even after they got below the fire, the smoke in the stairwell clearing, Gavin couldn't make himself move. He coughed against the side of Nines’ neck, cursing his human weakness. The air grew colder, and then they were outside with all the sirens and shouting. Gavin cracked his stinging eyes open, making out crowds of people including many residents he at least vaguely recognized, many clutching at blankets and sobbing.

“Stay.” Nines took one hand away from Gavin for a moment, then gripped him more securely and started pushing through the crowd. Gavin was wheezing, every breath agony.

There were hands, so many hands. Gavin was pulled away from Nines and pressed into a stretcher. A mask was fitted over his face and Gavin breathed. He tried to open his eyes again. Through the haze of tears and pain, he could just make out Nines’ white leather coat, liberally streaked with soot. Nines was looking away, looking around, and his LED was red, bright red. Gavin stretched out a hand toward the android, but Nines stepped away, not even looking his way. Paramedics closed in around him, and Gavin sank back against the stretcher he was on, moaning softly as he was loaded into an ambulance.

 _Essie._ Where was Essie? Gavin shut his eyes again, praying to a god he didn't believe in that she was with Nines. That she was safe.

_Please let her be safe..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to the anonymous briber!


	16. Kidnap*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Where is Essie?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As always, art is by the incredible kao!

Nines recalled the taste of propane, the heavy weight of it in his lungs. He recalled striding into the fire, his core heating up until it ignited the gas he had inhaled. He recalled the explosion, his biocomponents registering a cascading failure of errors in the fraction of a second before his processor was blown apart.

Nines recalled - 85 and his suicide the moment he registered the fire in Gavin's apartment. For a brief moment, Nines had allowed himself to contemplate his own self-destruction, but then he moved into action to save Essie and their fragile human.

Gavin endured the toxic smoke of the burning structure far longer than Nines thought he would. Nines wasn't surprised when Gavin collapsed against him in the stairwell. He was only surprised it hadn't happened sooner.

While Nines was equipped with medical knowledge, he did not have the equipment he would need to keep Gavin's scorched airways from swelling shut or repairing the damage to his feet. He left Essie on the outskirts of the crowd of residents before pushing through the mass of people to deposit Gavin into the care of first responders with oxygen masks and breathing tubes.

Nines backed away as the paramedics closed around Gavin, even though Gavin tried to reach for him. Gavin was safe. Nines needed to check on Essie and Tugger now.

Tugger had been screaming against his back, claws raking against his leather jacket. From the jerks of Essie's cries, Tugger had probably torn into her chest as well. Gavin kept her thirium levels high. Any damage from the cat would be superficial and quickly mended, unless her support structure had softened from the intense heat.

Essie was not where Nines had left her. The soot-stained pillowcase was crumpled on the ground. Nines picked it up. The photo album Gavin had rescued was there, but Tugger wasn't.

Possibility 1: Tugger escaped and Essie ran after him. 18% likely. Essie would not have left behind the album after Gavin entrusted it to her care.

Possibility 2: Essie was taken against her will. 82% likely. She might have dropped the pillowcase on purpose to tip Nines off.

LED a solid red, Nines lifted the pillowcase and examined it on both sides. There were some smears of thirium around the tears from Tugger's claws. Nines sampled them to confirm they were Essie's. There were a few stray drops on the other side, though, oddly located. Nines touched those to his tongue.

Not Essie's.

Not his.

Not even an android's.

Nines frowned and took another sample. Definitely thirium, definitely used to power cybernetics, but the serial number was only six characters: HLA-433.

Nines pulled up his knowledge of CyberLife's offerings, comparing model and serial number patterns against the six-character code he had. It didn't match anything in production, but there was a possible hit on a prosthetic prototype. CyberLife had begun work on it years ago, but it wasn't until after Nines’ initial rampage that anything remotely functional was even hinted at.

_A scientist in a white coat, close enough to Nines’ bound limbs to be grabbed, his arm torn from his shoulder before Nines was screaming from a fresh burst of electricity frying his circuits._

_“We attempted to replenish its levels after restraining it,” a woman said to the police detective in the other room. “Dr. Heidler's cutting edge prosthetic arm was the result. It's safer to keep our distance.”_

Dr. Eric Heidler. CyberLife employee. Why was his thirium on Gavin's pillowcase? Obviously he bled on it. Nines pulled up his mind palace, reconstructing the scene from the scant evidence he had. Essie, holding the pillowcase like she had been when Nines left her. Heidler could have…

...grabbed her from behind with his cybernetic arm…

...she had been reaching into the pillowcase to pet Tugger…

...she got jerked back, a hand over her mouth to keep her from screaming and alerting Nines…

...Tugger, already agitated, lashed out with his claws as he fought his way out of the pillowcase…

...one swipe cut across Heidler's wrist, drawing drops of thirium that splattered on the outside of the cotton…

...the damage wasn't enough to deter him from pulling Essie away. Tugger fled.

Tugger had to be second priority. Essie was in danger, and Gavin was unable to help her. Nines needed to track her down.

Eric Heidler. Why would he want Essie? He was CyberLife's Vice President of Research and Development. Had he worked on Essie? It was possible: Essie was a YK400 model with several unique customizations, such as thick hair that fell past her waist, a smaller-than-normal frame, and detailed genitalia. Still, none of those customizations required research or development. They were already pre-existing in other models.

If anything, Heidler would want _him_. The RK900 he had been studying, the one who tore his arm off. Heidler would want him, but Nines wasn't so easily grabbed.

Unless Heidler already had his biggest weakness.

Essie's safety was Nines’ responsibility. Anyone who had been observing Nines these past weeks would be aware of that. He took her to school with Gavin and lingered around the building until he could take her home in the afternoon. He held her hand and kept her safe, and the only time she had been unattended since he moved in with the Reeds was just eight minutes ago, when Nines left her to take Gavin to the paramedics.

Heidler took Essie as bait for Nines.

 

Nines closed his hands into fists. Heidler only had a few minutes’ head start on Nines, but only so long as Nines analyzed the scene correctly. Essie's safety, and his own, depended on his ability to think _._

 _Think_. Where would Heidler take Essie?

Anywhere. No. Wrong question.

Where would Heidler set a trap for Nines?

Narrower. Somewhere secure. Somewhere with an assembly machine. A chop shop? No. Essie was bait. She'd be useless bait if Nines couldn't find her.

_CyberLife Tower._

Nines whined involuntarily, shivering at the mere thought of that spike of evil. He rubbed the scar across the back of his right hand. Of course Heidler would take Essie there. It was the one place they had ever successfully restrained Nines. Only Gavin's idiocy had freed him.

Gavin wasn't here now.

Essie needed him.

What if Nines just...didn't go? It was obviously a trap. What if he didn't set it off? What if he called Connor instead?

Connor was police. He was restrained by the law. Technically, so was Nines, but while Nines had been intended as a law enforcement model, he was not actually a part of any law enforcement organization. Laws were only...suggestions.

Connor would take too long to clear the red tape to get to Essie. Same with Markus. Nines was the only one capable of a smash and grab rescue.

Did Essie _need_ that? Was it safer to take his time? To let Connor take his time?

No. CyberLife had Essie. Kent Jones was a lawyer for CyberLife. Jill Jones had already proved an insane level of desperation when she shot Gavin in a parking lot. CyberLife would not protect Essie from Kent.

Essie needed Nines, _now_.

Nines looked up at the slim tower in the skyline and clenched his hands into fists. He was tired of being scared. If CyberLife was going to threaten his family...Nines would fight back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have several anonymous bribers to thank for this chapter! Thank you so much!


	17. Rescue*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nines will enter CyberLife Tower again for Essie or Gavin. No one else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have been spoiled with all the art for this chapter! Enjoy two pieces by kao!

“Hello, and welcome to CyberLife!” A cheerful ST200 greeted Nines as he strode in through the front door. He stopped to look at her. She looked at him. “We're not actually open at the moment, but I'd be happy to make an appointment for you.”

Of course CyberLife still had androids working for them. Where else _could_ they work? Most places were still opposed to androids, even with the laws in place to protect them.

“Heidler,” Nines grunted. Not that he was going to wait until an appointment. Maybe this receptionist knew where the scientist was.

“Oh! Dr. Heidler is actually in the building right now! I can call him to see if he is availa-!”

Nines launched himself at the ST200, hand clamped around her throat as he shoved into her mind.

Her name was Maggie.

She lived with two other ST200s, her sisters, with Elijah Kamski.

She had witnessed Heidler drag a crying and struggling Essie into the elevator and head up.

She had already called Chloe, Kamski's RT600, to report the kidnapping.

She had been about to call Chloe again.

Nines pulled back, growling. Maggie gave a tiny nod.

They were on the same side.

Elijah was Gavin's biological brother. He was invested in Essie in an attempt to endear himself to Gavin. Nines knew this. He did not know why Elijah's androids were working in CyberLife, but as long as Maggie did not _actually_ call Heidler, Nines had no qualms against her.

“They're in his office,” Maggie murmured, subtly pointing up. “Floor 42.”

Nines nodded again, calculating potential routes. The glass elevator shafts riding up on either side out the central atrium would be the fastest, but anyone in the building, including Heidler, would be able to see him coming. Not only that, but Nines would effectively be a sitting duck, trapped in a glass box for Heidler to shoot at. The stairs would be safer but slower. Nines would lose precious time trying to sprint up forty-one flights of stairs.

That left the service elevators. Nines hated the sensation of standing still in a box while Heidler was doing whatever he wanted to Essie, but riding the windowless elevator used by the cleaning and maintenance staff up to floor forty-one was the fastest Nines could ascend the tower. At floor forty-one, he pushed through the doors as they slid open and sprinted for the stairwell.

Essie was bait for him, but the less Heidler knew about Nines’ arrival, the more Nines could benefit from surprise. He eased the fire door open and crept out, closing it silently behind him. With his audio sensors turned all the way up, he could make out the sounds of three distinct individuals in an office near the atrium edge.

One of them was not attempting to be quiet at all.

“Shh, come on baby girl, be sweet for your daddy…”

“YOU'RE NOT MY DADDY!”

Essie's screech was nearly painful to Nines’ processor, so loud and sharp was it. It brought a wave of relief, though, confirming that the girl was still alive and intact.

And furious.

“DON'T TOUCH ME!”

“Oh, for the love of god, it's one small model.”

“She's twisting too much…”

“Grab it firmly. Like this.”

Nines recognized Heidler's cool, clipped tones immediately. The other man's voice took several additional milliseconds to recognize, as he had only heard Kent Jones speak on recordings before today.

Kent Jones had his hands on Essie. Nines choked off a snarl before it could give him away.

There was an aborted nose of pain and then a slap of synthetic flesh against synthetic flesh. Nines felt his thirium metaphorically boil with anger as he slunk down the hall. Heidler had just struck Essie with his cybernetic hand. He would die first.

Or no, _no_ , no killing. Gavin wouldn't like it if Nines killed. Except maybe if Essie was in danger. But even then…

Maybe just one killing?

Essie was making a low moaning sound now, tinged with a breath of static. Her stress levels had to be through the roof.

“There. That wasn't so hard.”

“You made her cry!”

“It's not going to remember any of this in five minutes. Just monitor the progress. We don't have much time before the monster finds us.”

“I don't want to forget,” Essie whispered. “I don't want to forget my daddy…”

“Shh, baby girl, shh. It'll all be over soon, and then I'll be your daddy again.”

Five minutes? _Forget?_

Heidler was resetting Essie.

Nines abandoned stealth in favor of speed, racing down the hall and shoulder-checking the locked door open without even bothering to rattle the handle first. He was snarling, LED red, teeth bared.

Kent Jones actually screamed in terror, though Heidler merely flinched where he stood behind a desk. Essie, strapped into an assembly machine, her feet kicking helplessly off the ground, cried out his name, straining against her bonds. “Nines! Nines, help me!”

The reformatting program was already running. Every second Nines spent deliberating was another second it had to erase Essie's memories.

Heidler was on the other side of the room, his hands on his computer. Not an immediate threat. Kent Jones was beside Essie, moving between her and Nines. He was the more pressing matter.

Nines preconstructed an attack and initialized the routine. One step forward, then both hands together swung low and hard into Kent Jones’ unprotected ribs. The human was thrown aside from the force of the blow, and Nines could take steps two and three, wrenching the probes from Essie's head and snapping the metal. She was sobbing, eyes fluttering from the effects of the program and having it so abruptly aborted. Nines pulled her free from the machine with all the gentleness he could muster, driving his elbow back into Kent Jones’ face as the man tried to attack him from behind, and set her limp body down. Essie was, for the moment, safe.

Now he turned.

Kent Jones was holding some sort of floor lamp like a bat, but all Nines had to do was growl to get his grasp to go limp, the lamp clattering to the ground as he tried to back away. “Heidler! Heidler, now!”

“Thirty more seconds, you're doing fine.” Heidler kept looking between Nines and the terminal. Nines wasn't sure what the man was doing, but he knew Essie was safe from his meddling. Heidler was a secondary concern to the man who was continually trying to strip Essie from Gavin's life.

Nines stalked toward Kent Jones, who stumbled back, tripping over a chair. Nines pounced, curling his fingers around the human's fragile throat and lifting him into the air. Kent Jones’ weak fingers gripped at Nines’, his feet kicking uselessly.

Nines flung him into a wall behind Heidler. Heidler ducked, glancing up as Nines approached.

“Hello, RK900. It's been a while since you ripped my fucking arm off!”

“This time I'll get the other,” Nines snarled.

“Oh no,” Heidler said, and he grinned, pressing a button. “This time, _I_ win.”

There was a sudden flash of lightning, and Nines was standing in a stormy Zen garden. The office in CyberLife Tower was gone, and rain was pouring down, slicking Nines’ hair against his head and running off his water resistant CyberLife uniform.

Nines hissed, folding his arms around himself. He hadn't gone into stasis! Why was he in the Zen garden?

“Because you're out of control, Connor.”

The voice behind him was rich with disappointment. Nines whipped around to face a dark-skinned woman in white who was delicately holding an umbrella up to protect her from the soaking rain.

 

_Amanda._

He knew the name of this AI protocol as surely as he knew that his name wasn't Connor.

“No? It's one of your many designations, Conan.”

Each stab of lightning through the sky ratcheted Nines’ stress higher. It wasn't real. This wasn't real!

“Richard, you are a sentient string of code. If you are real, then this place, part of your code, is real.”

No. This was a simulation. A simulation. Lightning flashed. Nines flinched and whined.

“You are pathetic,” Amanda said. “The most advanced android CyberLife could create, and you're terrified of a little storm. Of imperfections.” Amanda looked pointedly at Nines’ right hand. He tucked it beneath his arm. “Of your _name_ , Niles.”

His name was _Nines_ , but Amanda just gave a harsh laugh.

“Nines isn't a name, Cain. It's a bastardization of your model number, just like you are a bastardization of an android. What did you think you were doing, playing house with that human?”

He wasn't _playing house_ with Gavin. He loved Gavin. Gavin loved him-

“He loves your dick, Ace. You're the best sex toy a busy homicide detective doesn't need to spend money or effort on.”

Essie-

“Isn't going to be a problem after this, Virgil.”

No. She wasn't going to be reset.

“What do you think is happening, Conrad? Right now, in the physical world, what do you think they're doing to her?”

Every use of one of Nines’ registered designations felt like a stab to his processor. He looked around frantically, trying to find some way out of this garden.

“You won't find anything, Noah.”

Nines snarled at Amanda and turned and ran. His feet splashed through puddles, and the lightning struck trees nearby, filling the damp air with an electric fizzle, but no matter which path Nines took, he always seemed to end up in the middle of the garden.

“There _is_ one way out, Caleb…”

Nines didn't want to look. His thirium was throbbing through his veins, his stress making his hands shake and his eyesight malfunction. He pressed his right hand to his cracked LED, then snatched it away as if burned. Amanda was watching, smirking, her dark eyes unforgiving. “You're already doing it.”

Doing it? Doing what?

“Self-destructing.” Amanda's hand was warm on his shoulder. Her fingers carded through his hair almost soothingly. “Don't worry, Hunter. It will all be over soon.”

Lightning struck immediately in front of him. Nines recoiled, flinging an arm across his eyes, but he was already blinded by the sudden, intense light.

The crack of thunder that immediately followed didn't sound right.

It sounded like a voice.

It sounded like his name.

“ ** _NINES!_** ”

Essie. _Essie._ That was Essie's voice, screaming in the wind, pounding in the rain.

“ ** _NINES! NO!_** ”

Essie's voice making every crack of thunder.

“ ** _STOP, PLEASE STOP!_** ”

Amanda grabbed his right arm, nails digging into his scars, ripping through his synthetic flesh. She was trying to drag his arm back, twist it behind him. Nines howled and fought back, thrashing against Amanda's iron grip. He finally ripped his arm forward, throwing Amanda against the path in front of him.

The garden shattered with the high-pitched death scream of a young girl. Nines blinked, suddenly back in CyberLife Tower. Suddenly in the atrium.

Balanced on the glass railing.

Nines looked down.

 

There was a puddle of blue blood forty-two stories below, violently splashed out from the shattered body of a child android.

Essie.

_Essie._

  
  


**NO**

  
  
  


No...

  
  
  


_...no..._

  
  
  


Nines stared at the splash of color far below. The ST200, Maggie, had rushed out from behind the desk, crouched by Essie's head. She looked up, and her eyes met Nines’.

She knew.

She knew he had…

He had…

Essie had fallen to her death.

And Maggie knew.

Maggie would tell Kamski.

Kamski would tell Gavin.

Gavin would know.

Gavin would know what Nines did.

There were hands on his back, pushing. Nines roared his pain, turning to grab the man trying to shove him over the edge. Kent Jones gasped for breath, dangling by his throat as Nines hauled him over the edge.

_“No killing!” Gavin had hissed, low and dangerous and challenging Nines’ own threats. “I don't allow murderers near my daughter!”_

Essie was already dead. It was his fault. He had killed her. What more damage could one more death do?

_“No killing!”_

Gavin wasn't Nines’ master. Nines had no master. He belonged to himself.

But he loved Gavin.

He hurt Gavin.

The least he could do for Gavin was not add even more to his body count.

Nines stepped backward off the railing, dragging Kent Jones back to safety. He opened his fingers and let the man's unconscious body drop. There were sirens in the distance. The police were coming.

Two gunshots pierced Nines’ thirium pump regulator. He looked down at the holes leaking blue thirium down his thin t-shirt. Already, the nanobots in his chassis were spinning carbon fiber across the wounds to minimize the damage. Heidler should know that. He helped design Nines.

“You are a fucking _monster!_ ” Heidler shouted, firing again and again as Nines advanced on the panicking scientist. “You never should have been created! You are flawed and psychotic and _why won't you just shut down already!?_ ”

The RK900 line was designed to be bodyguards. They would perform poorly if they could be taken out by just a few bullets in the right places. Nines wrenched the gun from Heidler's grasp and snapped it, backing the scientist into the wall. He set his hand on Heidler's chest and pushed.

Heidler cried out, both plastic and biological sets of fingers scrabbling at Nines’ wrist. His ribs creaked. Nines could feel the desperate hammering of Heidler's fragile heart through his sternum. He could crush the man's heart in his chest.

“You did this,” Nines hissed. “You killed her!”

“You can't blame me,” Heidler choked out, “for your own homicidal tendencies!”

Nines snarled, curling his fingers and digging them into Heidler's chest. Heidler gasped and whined, his left hand falling away to scrabble at Nines’ chest. Nines leaned his weight against his hand on Heidler's chest, and Heidler's fingers caught on the edge of his thirium pump regulator.

_BIOCOMPONENT 08456w_

**_MISSING_ **

_VITAL SYSTEM_

**_DAMAGED_ **

_00:01:45_

_TIME REMAINING BEFORE_

**_SHUT DOWN_ **

“Nines!”

There was a new hand on his wrist, white plastic fingers pulling him away from Heidler. Nines stumbled back as Connor pushed him. The other android was able to overpower his self-correcting gyroscopes.

Or maybe Nines just didn't care anymore.

He fell, not even bothering to catch himself. His fingers found the thirium-soaked hole in his torso where his regulator once was, shirt full of holes from the gun. Half his heart was missing.

Half his heart was shattered on the floor of the lobby. _Essie._ Nines slumped back, closing his eyes.

Other people were shouting around him. Nines didn't care. He closed down every warning and error message except the shut down timer. That, he expanded until it was all he could see.

**00:00:43**

**00:00:42**

**00:00:41**

**BIOCOMPONENT 08456w RESTORED**

**CALIBRATING…**

Nines opened his eyes. Connor was crouched beside him, his white button-down hanging open. His skin was retracted from his own abdomen, and his thirium pump regulator was missing, the hole pulsing red.

“Stay with us, Nines,” Connor said. His voice was calm despite the angry red of his LED. “It's going to be okay.”

“Connor, what the fuck!? You can't just give up your heart!”

Connor and Nines both looked at Lieutenant Anderson. The old man looked exhausted as he held Heidler down, cuffs around his wrists.

“It's alright, Lieutenant,” Connor said. “Nines and I have compatible hearts. We'll keep swapping until we have a replacement regulator for Nines.”

“Fucking androids,” Anderson grumbled.

Nines drew his finger around the rim of the regulator, then looked up at Connor. The older model smiled faintly. “It's going to be okay,” he repeated.

Nines shook his head. He'd… _Essie._ She was dead. It was not going to be okay.

Connor sighed and brushed his fingers against Nines’ forehead, flicking the stubborn lock of hair back like how Gavin would. “Detective Reed is going to need you more than ever now, Nines,” he murmured.

Not once he learned who had actually thrown Essie from the forty-second floor.

Nines moaned softly and detached the thirium pump regulator. He slid it out and pushed it back into Connor's chest. Connor took a deep breath, his LED circling yellow. The countdown began anew in front of Nines’ eyes.

“You fucking _asswipe_ ,” Lieutenant Anderson spat at Heidler. “That's attempted murder!”

“Self-defense,” Heidler grated out between clenched teeth.

Anderson came over with Nines’ regulator in his hands. “Here, this is his heart thingy, right? It looks damaged…”

It was still functional, at least for an RK900. Nines looked at Connor. Behind those soft brown eyes was an iron determination. Connor was not about to let Nines die here, no matter how much Nines didn't want to continue on.

Nines took the regulator from Anderson and slotted it back into place. The countdown stopped again. Connor smiled at Nines, but he could not return the expression.

“Get him downstairs,” Lieutenant Anderson told Connor. “Take his statement.”

Connor nodded, helping Nines to his feet. Nines tugged his thirium-soaked shirt back in place, while Connor buttoned up his own. His skin was flowing back into place, smooth and unblemished by scars. Nines turned away.

Though Connor was being gentle, his hand on Nines’ elbow was firm. Connor was a law-abiding android. He might consider himself Nines’ older brother, but he was also not one for nepotism. Connor was the only android alive who could go toe to toe with Nines and have a chance of winning. He was escorting Nines in case he needed to arrest him.

Not that it mattered. In the elevator, Nines covered the scar on his right hand and closed his eyes, his back to the view of the lobby. Essie was dead. Gavin was in the hospital. What good was Nines’ freedom?

“Nines,” Connor murmured. Nines turned his face away. The other android said nothing more.

The lobby reeked of spilled thirium, the metallic tang heavy in the air. Nines shut off his breathing as Connor led him to a small meeting room and closed the door.

“Detective Connor Anderson, interviewing witness and suspect known as ‘Nines,’ model RK900, serial number 313-248-317-87.” Connor gestured for Nines to take a seat and sat across from him. “Nines is non-verbal.”

Nines hadn't yet spoken to Connor. He didn't want to start now, like this.

“Nines, will you allow an interface and a direct transfer of your memories?” Connor extended one hand, his skin peeling back.

Nines thought of a sickly garden, spears of lightning and a cold woman who smelled of roses. He shuddered and shook his head. No. Connor did not need to be exposed to that.

Connor withdrew his hand and offered a tablet instead. “Will you transfer the video log?”

A cobalt spread of thirium on the floor far below. Kent Jones suspended by his throat. Heidler's panic as Nines stalked toward him.

Sharing the video would not erase it from Nines’ mind. Nothing would erase it. Nines felt confident that even if he were reset, his mind completely wiped, he would still remember Essie's broken body in a pool of her own blood.

Nines took the tablet from Connor, connecting to the simple computer. He pushed the video through as quickly as he could and ducked his head. Connor accepted the tablet back, LED swirling yellow as he processed the entire scene.

“Nines…”

Nines clenched his hand into a fist, the scar across his right hand standing out against his synthetic skin.

Connor blinked and rubbed his hands over his eyes. “Video testimony has been added to the statement. As shown, Nines was under the influence of a malicious AI at the time of the assault on Elsa Reed. Per the laws set out by the Equal Rights for Androids Act, such code is classified as a ‘virus,’ and any acts carried out from the influence of said code fall under the legal responsibility of the originator and/or distributor of said code.”

It was a fancy way to say that legally, CyberLife killed Essie. Nines closed his eyes. Essie was trying to save him. She had grabbed his arm, and his malfunctioning processor had thrown her to her death.

“You didn't kill her, Nines,” Connor said quietly. “Amanda...She is the curse of the RK line. Markus and I have both wrestled with her.”

“Who?” Nines asked. He opened his eyes and looked across the table at his brother.

“I-excuse me?” Connor's brief startle over hearing Nines actually speak was quickly overridden. Nines could almost see the older model deleting his reactions, and he hated it even as he did the same.

“Who did Amanda kill for you?”

Nines spoke slowly, forming each word with careful deliberation. Connor blinked again, his head tilting to the side in the default inquisitive gesture.

“I did not kill anyone under Amanda's control, nor did Markus. Hank did shoot me in the head and destroyed my processor.”

“You recovered.” Nines looked towards the window in the conference room, towards the lobby. “She will not. It is not the same.”

Connor was quiet, his LED circling, before he gave a single nod, acknowledging Nines’ point.

“Detective Reed is at… the Henry Ford Hospital,” Connor informed Nines, the momentary pause while he looked up that information unnoticeable to all but another RK900's processor. “I'm sure he will appreciate your presence at his side while he recovers.”

 _I killed his child,_ Nines thought. _I am the last person he would want beside him._

He did not say that. He merely inclined his head. Connor nodded back. “You're free to go, Nines. I'll call you if we need anything more.”


	18. Rebirth*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gavin doesn't want to see his hospital bills.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, kao, for the beautiful art as always!

Gavin didn't know how long he spent at the hospital, the white noise of hospital equipment beeping and whirring around him. There was a needle in his hand and a tube down his throat. Sometimes he hurt. Sometimes he felt floaty. The seat next to him was usually occupied. Fowler was there. Connor, with his LED red? Anderson.

People in shapeless scrubs talked to him sometimes, their voices wordless blubs in his ears.

The first time Gavin opened his eyes and realized he wasn't high as a kite, he was in a different room with fewer machines. Tina sat beside him, scrolling through her phone. She glanced over at him when he shifted in the bed.

“Hey, jackass. Welcome back to the land of the living.”

The relief on Tina's face and the way she reached for Gavin's hand belayed the harshness of her words. Gavin gave her fingers a squeeze, watching her mouth crack into a fragile smile. “Not my fault,” he croaked. His voice was tight, throat sore. No shit. He'd probably burned half of it away with all that smoke and heat.

“Not this time,” Tina agreed. “But you _just_ got back from being shot! Try to give me at least a month of seeing your stupid face around the office before your next near-death experience?”

Near-death experience. Right. Gavin closed his eyes and could see the thick smoke curling around the door frame of his bedroom, Nines silhouetted in front of the shattered windows, the feel of Essie's damp face pressed against his throat. He almost died. _They_ almost died...but they got out.

He got out. Nines got him out.

Essie? Gavin opened his eyes and looked at Tina again, whispering his daughter's name. He hadn't seen her since the stairwell. Nines had taken her off his back to pick up Gavin instead. Gavin had lost track of Essie after that. He had lost track of most things after that.

Tina looked down at their joined hands. Gavin's throat, already tight and sore, felt like it closed over completely. He struggled against his blankets, trying to sit up. “Essie, where's Essie!?”

“Shh, Gavin, you need to rest.”

Tina was trying to push Gavin back down to the bed, but she wasn't Nines. She couldn't hold him immobile.

_She wasn't answering._

“Essie!”

“Kamski has her.”

Kamski? Elijah? Why would Essie be with Elijah? Gavin squeezed Tina's hand, digging in his nails. Tina winced and shook her head.

“Gav, that's all I know! Connor's got the investigation on lockdown, and he's not leaking anything. Elijah has Essie. That's all he's told me.”

 _Investigation?_ Gavin sank into his pillows, squeezing his eyes shut and focusing on just breathing. Why an investigation with the DPD for a gas explosion?

Because it hadn't been a gas explosion. The fire had been outside his apartment, but not his neighbor's. Essie was locked up with Elijah. Connor was withholding information. Nines hadn't been crouched beside his bed with worried eyes and a red LED.

 _Stop being paranoid,_ Gavin scolded himself. He scrubbed at his face with his free hand. _Not everything is out to get Essie…_

“I'll ask Connor if he can come talk to you,” Tina said. “Gavin, I don't know what's going on. They're saying the fire was arson. Three people died. We all thought we might be adding you to the list when you weren't answering your phone… I'm sorry I don't know more about Essie. I'm sorry.”

Gavin was shaking, fine trembles making his fingers shiver and his mouth wobble. “Nines?” he asked. If Nines was with Essie, that meant she was safe. It meant _they_ were safe.

Tina opened her mouth and hesitated again. Gavin felt sick, felt cold, his stomach an inside-out knot in the pit of his belly. Essie. Nines. Was it even worth asking about Tugger? Was _anything_ left?

This was why he never got attached. Attachments were mistakes.

“Connor had said Nines was going to sit with you, but no one has seen him,” Tina said. “Fowler was the first to get here, and none of the nurses had seen Nines. We've been sitting with you in shifts ever since, and Nines hasn't shown up.”

Gavin closed his eyes, sinking into his pillows. Even suspecting the bad news in advance did nothing to dull the punch to his gut _ache_.

Essie was...hurt, at best. Nines was gone. Tugger...Gavin didn't even want to ask about Tugger. It was entirely possible his cat had suffocated on the smoke and ash, clutched against Essie's chest as they fled the burning apartment.

The apartment. Gavin's home. It was undoubtedly gone. What the fire and smoke hadn't destroyed, water almost certainly had. Gavin had been to the aftermath of arson fires before, or murder scenes hidden beneath a layer of ash. There would be nothing left to find.

Gavin had insurance, of course he did. He wasn't stupid. And he had cloud backups of his files and photos. The apartment was only physical _things_.

And his home. The cornerstone of his entire life. His leather coat, hung by the door, buttery softness that Essie would push her face into and say it smelled like safety. His couch, which had borne countless naps and drunken rambles, which would never be completely furless. His bed, the first piece of furniture he ever bought, which arrived a week before his mattress did, and he didn't care, sleeping on the floor inside the frame just because it was _his bed_ , and it meant he was no longer that panicked aged-out foster system brat, but an adult able to take care of himself.

Gone. All of it, gone.

Gavin opened his eyes and stared at the hospital ceiling. Hospital ceilings hasn't changed in thirty years. Same square tiles. Same fluorescent lights. The burning had shifted from his slashed up face to his charred raw throat, but the shock and grief of losing _everything_ was as familiar as the ceiling tiles.

Tugger.

Essie.

Nines.

Tina didn't try to coax Gavin into talking. He appreciated that about her. She understood that when he hurt, he just wanted to be left alone, to retreat and lick his wounds and push down the pain until he could pretend it never happened. She squeezed his hand and turned on the tv in his room to some stupid buddy cop show. Gavin let the dialogue buzz in the background of his mind, trying to zone out of everything.

A tap on the door several episodes later signaled Connor's arrival. “Come in!” Tina called, muting the tv. Gavin turned his head to watch Connor enter. The android's LED was yellow as he gave Gavin a placid smile.

“It's good to see you awake, Detective. We were worried about your health.”

“Fuck my health,” Gavin growled, though the effect was ruined by a few raspy coughs. “Where's Essie? What's going on?”

Connor's eyes shifted to Tina. She sighed, squeezing Gavin's hand. “Fine. I'll go.”

“You can tell her too,” Gavin insisted. Tina was his best friend. Anything Connor told him, he'd tell her anyway.

“We're really trying to minimize leaks,” Connor said. “I mean no offense, Officer Chen, but…”

“No, I get it.” Tina was pouting, but she kissed Gavin's cheek and pulled her hand free. “I'll grab some coffee. Shoot me a text when you're done discussing top secret case details.”

“Thank you, Officer Chen.” Connor's smile was all earnest puppy dog as Tina left the room.

Gavin struggled to sit up. His heart was hammering against his ribs, anticipating making his anxiety worse. “Essie,” he repeated. “Nines. Out with it, you plastic prick, where are they!?”

Connor took Tina's abandoned seat. “Please try to stay calm, Detective. Your body is still fragile.”

“ _Essie_!” Gavin snapped.

“Is very likely alive,” Connor said.

 _Very likely?_ What the fuck was that supposed to mean!? Gavin could only stare at Connor in horror.

“She...suffered catastrophic chassis damage,” Connor continued quietly. “After her fall-”

“Fall?” Gavin croaked. Connor blinked and then shook his head.

“Let me start at the beginning. We've recreated this chain of events from witness testimonies, including Nines’ video log.” Connor took a breath he didn't need as Gavin stared at him, jaw clenched tight, fingers digging into the sheets.

“After exiting the burning apartment, Nines left Essie to bring you to the paramedics. When he returned to Essie's side, she was gone. He found trace evidence that indicated the involvement of Doctor Eric Heidler, the chief researcher at CyberLife. Nines tracked them to CyberLife Tower, where the receptionist on duty, Maggie, told him she had seen Heidler take Essie to his office on the forty-second floor.”

 _Fall._ Gavin swallowed. He had been in the Tower only once before, at some open house shindig. He remembered standing in the central atrium and looking up and up and up at the entire open center of the building, wondering how the hell they efficiently heated the place and what was stopping employees from dropping pens over the frosted glass railings.

Now he was imagining Essie all the way up there. His heart and stomach swapped spots in his chest, aching and tight. He already knew how this story ended. He didn't want to hear it. Not Essie.

“Heidler was working with Kent Jones. They had schemes to kidnap Essie as bait to draw Nines back to the Tower. When Nines arrived, they were attempting to restore Essie to factory default settings.”

“Fuck…” Gavin freed a hand from his wrinkled sheets, pressing his palm over his mouth. It wasn't enough that they threw her over the side, but they had to take her mind away too?

“Nines was able to free her before the reset could do much damage, but it bought Heidler enough time to unleash Amanda.”

Gavin looked over at Connor. “...Amanda?” The way the android had whispered the name, his LED flashing red, was completely incongruous with the relative innocence of the name. “Who's Amanda?”

Connor twisted his hands together tightly, pressing so hard some of his skin peeled back. “Do you remember...how I lost my motor functions? And how Markus...is haunted by a...a simulation?”

Gavin remembered. He did not understand the haunted look in Markus’ mismatched eyes, but he remembered how the android leader had shoved North aside and fled. He could recognize a trauma survivor when they were triggered. And Connor, with his freaky paralysis…

“That was all Amanda's doing,” Connor whispered. “She...is an AI. My handler. She could seize remote control of my body. She could manipulate Markus’ perception of the world around him. She is a harness designed by CyberLife.”

“CyberLife...installed her on Nines?”

“It seems that way,” Connor said. “Her protocol was already there, but she became active and seized control of his processor.”

 _Nines._ Gavin could only imagine the terror the android would have felt just returning to CyberLife Tower in the first place. He did it for Essie, and CyberLife tried to lock him up again. No wonder he resorted to his usual coping method of disappearing completely…

“Amanda instructed Nines to self-destruct,” Connor said. “Essie...tried to stop him.”

Gavin heard a moan, like an animal in pain, and it took a moment to realize he had made it. He didn't need to hear anything more to know. Heidler hadn't thrown Essie over the edge. Jones hadn't.

Nines had.

Essie had been trying to save her other daddy, and he, locked into CyberLife‘s mind fuckery, had thrown her over the edge. She fell forty-two stories, knowing _Nines_ had done this to her. Nines had killed her.

Except, no. “...probably alive?” Gavin whispered.

“Maggie heard her scream and ran out in time to witness her fall,” Connor said. “She is one of the ST200s who sought refuge with Kamski. She was able to react quickly and pull Essie's core processor free, transplanting it into…” Connor looked at Gavin's confused expression. “Maggie used her own circulatory system to keep Essie's brain alive,” he explained in simple, ‘humans are idiots’ terms. “She took the processor to Kamski, who has been working on a transplant.”

“Transplant into what?” Gavin asked hoarsely.

“Kamski has been working on older versions of Essie, to allow her to age,” Connor reminded Gavin unnecessarily.

“Elijah said the next body wouldn't be ready for at least seven more months…”

“I've seen it,” Connor said. “Her. I'm not sure why Kamski told you that. You'll have to ask him. But Essie's processor has been installed in a new YK450 model, and he has been working on stabilizing her mind.”

Nines was missing.

Tugger was missing.

But Essie was possibly alive. Gavin closed his eyes and took a shaky breath. Essie was probably alive, and Elijah was trying to save her. He hadn't lost _everything_.

“When can I get out of here?”

“The nurse told me you will be kept seven more days for observation,” Connor told him.

In the end, Gavin made it two. Two excruciating days as he had nightmares about Nines and Essie falling from skyscrapers, windows shattering across his face, Tugger screaming as a fire licked at his fur. Two days of enduring visitors bringing him get well soon cards and supplies gathered from a drive at the office: a new phone (from Fowler), clothes, basic toiletries…

Gavin had nothing.

Gavin had his daughter.

The first moment he could make it to the nurse's station without needing a pause to catch his breath, Gavin dragged himself out of bed, got dressed, and informed the nurse he was checking himself out. She argued, but Gavin was a cop determined to see Essie again. Within an hour, he was in an autonomous cab heading toward Elijah's mansion of solitude with more medication than worldly possessions in a bag slung over his shoulder.

Chloe greeted him at the door with a soft smile. Gavin couldn't find it in him to smile back. It was all he could do just to accept her supportive arm as she led him down to Elijah's lab. His chest ached from the exertion he was putting his smoke-choked lungs through.

“You're late.”

Elijah addressed him as soon as he stepped inside, though he didn't look up from the screen he was tapping at. Gavin flipped him off, pulling away from Chloe and crossing the room. “I was in a fucking hospital.”

“Excuses are the realm of lesser men.”

The far wall was dominated by five android assembly machines. The first three were occupied, two by a mass of wires and plastic, and the third by a little girl in a white one-piece jumpsuit, suspended in the air and twitching in controlled, aborted gestures.

_Essie._

She was a few inches taller than the Essie Gavin knew and loved, and her hair was only mid-back instead of long enough to sit on. Her LED wasn't cracked and her nose wasn't scarred. She was perfect.

 

“You said she wasn't ready,” Gavin croaked. He reached up to touch her, smoothing his thumb across the yellow LED, cupping her face that still had some curve of artificial baby fat plumping her features.

Elijah huffed, waving a hand dismissively. “The body was the easy part. All the technology already exists. The only thing I had to do was sculpt her face. No, the mind is what isn't ready, and the transference capabilities...but I didn't need that for this.”

“Why is she twitching?” Her eyes were closed, her face completely blank. Even asleep, Essie never looked this dead.

“We're running some final calibrations.” Elijah lifted his other hand from the screen, and Essie went still. He moved around the table to stand beside Gavin.

Years ago, Gavin would have snarled at this man so similar to him and yet so different. Now…

Well, Elijah was still a creepy smug bastard with more money than sense, but he was also, somehow, part of Gavin's oddly growing family. And he could save Essie. That alone softened the ice in Gavin's heart for anyone bearing the Kamski name.

“I did the best I could,” Elijah murmured, “but I could not restore all of the deleted memories. She has some memory corruption from the aborted reset. However, her physical functionality seems completely intact, and from her actions after the reset, she at least is aware of who Nines is and her affection for him. It is likely that she still retains most, if not all, of her memories of you.”

“What does memory corruption...what are we looking at, here?”

Elijah shrugged. “It can cause errors in non-deviant androids, but I haven't had a chance to study deviants with faulty memories.”

Gavin growled under his breath. “Use your big head and give me a guess.”

Elijah pushed his glasses up his nose with two fingers. “PTSD symptoms. Confusing nightmares. If she tries to recall the corrupted memories, she might lock up.”

In other words...almost exactly how Essie already was, after the warehouse, except for one thing. “If she locks up…?”

“Her system will trigger a soft reboot,” Elijah said. “She'll freeze up for about a minute, during which time she'll be completely nonfunctional, and then come back with no side effects.”

Gavin took a deep breath, and then another. “When...when can she be...turned on?”

“She's already _on_.” Elijah sounded mildly affronted. If they had actually grown up together as brothers, Gavin suspected he would have find great enjoyment in wringing that tone out of the super genius at every possible turn. “However, she can be brought online at any moment. I was waiting for your arrival. You were late.”

“...thanks,” Gavin murmured.

“I don't do well with children,” Elijah answered. “If you're ready? This may be...disturbing. Her last awareness was of her own death, after all.”

Gavin nodded. “Do it.”

Elijah returned to his screen and tapped a few more things. Gavin watched as Essie's LED circled, shifted blue, and then plunged into a deep red. She flailed wildly, arms and legs all windmilling, and she opened her mouth in the most blood-chilling scream of a child about to die.

“ _Essie!_ ”

Essie jerked on the machine, shuddering and sobbing. Her limbs stopped their mad movements, and her brown eyes cracked open, glossy with thirium tears. “D-daddy?”

That was Essie's voice. Not some mechanical android, but Gavin's own child, reaching for him with a wordless plea.

“If you could hold her?” Elijah requested, off to the side.

Gavin didn't need his instruction to move forward, wrapping his arms around Essie and crushing her to his chest. “I'm here, kiddo, I'm right here…!” She looped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist. Her wet face pushed against the side of his throat. The machine behind her gave a hiss, and her weight fell forward against him as she was released.

“Essie…” Gavin backed up until he was leaning against a table, pressing his face into her hair. She didn't smell like strawberry shampoo, and she didn't fit the same way in his arms. Her weight was wrong, her hair was short, her nose was smooth against his neck.

But her eyelashes fluttered against his skin, and she whispered _Daddy_ like it was the most sacred word in the world, and yes, she felt off, but surely that's what happened when human children grew up. Essie could grow too. Elijah was figuring it out. Essie pulled back and looked up at him, and _yes_ , those were the same eyes, the same soul behind them.

“God, kiddo, I love you,” Gavin whispered.

Essie's smile wobbled, and she sniffed. “I love you too, Daddy,” she whispered back. “I had a _really_ bad dream… there was a fire, and everything was hot, and I was scared, and you were coughing, and...and... _Nines!_ Daddy, Nines was in my dream too, and he was self-destructing!”

“Ess…” Gavin pushed Essie's hair behind her ear, supporting her weight over his hips, one arm around her back to keep her in place. He didn't want to think about Nines self-destructing. Connor said he had survived. “Essie...that wasn't a dream.”

“But…” Essie blinked at Gavin, blinked and bit her lip. “But no, I was...Daddy, I was...I was _falling_ , Daddy! I was gonna hit the ground and smash and Daddy…?”

Essie's LED spun yellow, and then she squirmed in his arms. Gavin set her down and watched as she inspected her hands, then her jumpsuit. She smoothed her fingers over her belly and down between her legs (Elijah promised the next generation bodies for Essie would not be fuckable, not until she was old enough to actually _want_ it, at least). “I died,” she whispered. Her trembling fingers touched her nose, the smooth, unblemished bridge. The LED streaked red. “I _died_!” Fresh tears rolled down her face as she looked up at Gavin, her fingers digging into the skin over her nose and peeling it back. “We don't match!”

“It's okay, Essie!” Gavin took a knee in front of her, pulling her back into his arms. She pressed against him, shaking, her small fingers seeking out his nose.

“We don't match, we gotta match, how else will we stay together?”

“Our names match,” Gavin reminded her. “Gavin and Elsa Reed, remember?”

“We don't match!” Essie wailed.

“Your damage has been repaired,” Elijah chimed in unhelpfully. “You should be pleased that your face is no longer cracked open.”

Essie's entire body was wracked with the force of her sobs. Gavin held her close, trying to calm her down, but Essie's hands were on their noses and her body was tense in his arms. Gavin knew his scar was how Essie trusted him in the first place, but he hadn't realized how much of her identity Essie had wrapped up in the fact that they matched.

“Essie?” Chloe's hand fell on Essie's shoulder, firmly prying her away from Gavin. “Essie, can you look at me?”

Chloe's voice was gentle, her smile soft, and her hand too fast for Gavin to stop. As Essie looked up at Chloe, Chloe struck out with a knife, digging it into Essie's nose. Essie screamed in pain...but then she stopped sobbing. She was still crying, both of her hands covering her blue-stained face, but she wasn't shaking.

“Jesus Christ!” Gavin pulled Essie against his chest again, away from Chloe. “Let me see, Essie, let me see how bad it is…”

Essie let Gavin pull her fingers away from her face. The cut across her nose matched Gavin's in placement and angle. Thirium rolled down her face, mixing with her tears and dripping off her chin.

“Is that better?” Chloe asked.

Essie nodded. She wiped her hand over her eyes, smearing more thirium across her skin. “Thank you, Chloe,” she whispered.

“No!” Gavin snapped. “No, that was not fucking appropriate! You don't just stab a kid in the face no matter how much she wants it!”

“Her stress levels were dangerously high,” Chloe said. “We didn't have time to do it delicately. But I agree. Next time, the scar will be part of the design.” She looked pointedly at Elijah.

For his part, Elijah didn't look the slightest bit rattled. He just sighed and patted the table beside him. “Put her up here, Gavin. I'll close the wound so it scars properly.

Gavin didn't want anyone touching his daughter anytime soon, but he had to admit that Essie was already calmer. He wrapped his arms around her again. When she pressed her face against his throat, he could feel the thirium slide across his own skin.

 _Last time,_ he promised himself silently, carrying Essie to the table. _This is the last time I allow her to be hurt._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you zylette and ded_mouseses, for your bribes that saved people from having to wait until Monday to get this chapter!


	19. Freed*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nines has cut himself free from the Reeds.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you, kao, for capturing this member of the Reed family with so much warmth!

Gavin was at the Henry Ford Hospital, but Nines did not go there. How could he, after all he had done?

Nines zipped up his leather jacket, hiding the worst of the damage to his clothes. He went to the police station instead. It was largely empty this early in the morning. Nobody looked twice at the android with Connor's face.

Gavin's desk was easy to find. Even if it weren't for the nameplate sitting in front, Nines was confident he would have recognized it from the preponderance of unwashed coffee mugs and the framed photo of Essie and Tugger. Nines picked up the photo. Essie was grinning broadly in her Halloween costume, plastic police cap on her head. In her arms, Tugger glowered at the camera, having been wrestled into an inmate costume for the duration of the photoshoot. Nines remembered taking this photo, because Gavin was laughing too hard to hold his phone steady.

None of them could have imagined this future.

Nines set the frame back down and opened the top drawer of Gavin's desk. He set the photo album inside, the one thing Gavin had rescued from the fire. Nines had somehow managed to keep it with him throughout CyberLife Tower. He had sat on a bench in a cold park and flipped through the pages, memorizing every photo of Sarah Reed and her young son.

Gavin had been a happy child. As a boy younger than Essie, his face had been smooth and his smiles wide. There was no hesitation in his joy, no shadow in his eyes. As a boy, Gavin had never been kicked by the world. For all her own youth and hardships, Sarah Reed had kept him sheltered as long as she could.

Nines had found the records of Gavin's childhood. He had seen the crime scene photographs of Sarah's murder and the bloody stain on her chest where Gavin had huddled, awaiting his own death. He saw the hospital photos of Gavin's stitched up face and the artistry of his plastic surgeon who allowed him to hide his trauma behind only one obvious scar. He had tracked Gavin through his school records, the countless detentions for fighting, the barely-adequate grades, the change in addresses as Gavin was transferred from foster home to foster home, never staying with one family long enough to develop a feeling of belonging, of _home_. Gavin had enrolled in the police academy at the first opportunity and graduated top of his class for once. He'd been hired into the DPD and rocketed through the ranks almost as fast as Lieutenant Anderson. His life was one of a boy who learned not to trust and a man who knew better than to love.

And then he found Essie, and he rescued Nines, and the three of them had somehow formed a family. Gavin smiled and laughed with them. He held them and kissed them and whispered that he loved them.

_“And then you ruined everything.”_

Nines flinched at the voice whispering in his head. Amanda. The AI was still inside him, a heavy weight in his code. Her calm words stabbed into his core, all the worse for being the truth.

Nines closed Gavin's drawer and left the station. He didn't know where else he could go. Not back to Gavin. He'd lost that right. Connor and Markus? They wouldn't understand. They both knew love. They would insist Nines return to Gavin's side.

It wasn't that Nines didn't _want_ to go back to Gavin. He did, more than anything. He wanted Gavin's arms wrapped around him, the human's variable heartbeat in his ear, Gavin's crooked smile and the taste of his skin. Nines wanted his lover to run his fingers through his hair and lower his stress, to say Amanda was a lying bitch and that Gavin liked more than just his dick.

But Gavin didn't deserve that. Nines had killed Gavin's child. He was not about to force Gavin to comfort _him_. It was the only mercy he could offer the man he claimed to love.

Nines wandered the city for 6.83 days, reverting to his old method of mapping out a grid with his feet. Before Gavin, this was more he occupied his days, memorizing everything pointless and trying to extrapolate some meaning of his own life from it.

He ended up in the same place he always did: in front of Gavin's apartment building.

The fire was long out, but a horrible scar stretched across the side. The sixth through eleventh floors were blackened and burnt, charred window frames gaping open like so many missing teeth.

_“You are designed to destroy.”_

Nines stepped inside. The elevators were closed, so he took the stairs. There were barricades at the fifth floor to stop people from going any higher, but Nines stepped through the tape. His sensors could read the fire damage, warning him what parts of the structure were unstable and which were capable of supporting his weight.

The eighth floor was nearly unrecognizable. Every surface was scorched and blackened. The paint was peeling off the walls, and the carpet crunched beneath his feet, melted polyester now brittle and cold.

The area outside apartment 824 was completely unstable. The heavy front door was gone, and the floor had a yawning chasm to darkness below. If they had tried to flee through the front door, they all would have died.

Gavin had wanted to save Essie. He had been willing to die alone in his apartment if it meant Essie might live.

_“And you killed her anyway.”_

Nines pushed into apartment 822. The fire had spread here as well, ravaging what was once a pleasant living space. The shell of the couch was still in the middle of the room where Nines had shoved it, and the hole between this apartment and the next was three times the size it had been before. The fire had followed them out of Gavin's apartment, chewing through the wall. Nines stepped inside, chasing the fire back to its source.

There was nothing familiar in this dark bedroom. There was everything familiar. Nines ran his fingers along the fragments of what had once been Gavin's bed, _their_ bed. It flexed beneath his touch, the weakened frame sagging further. Gavin's phone was still on the charging pad on the nightstand, the metal discolored from the heat, screen cracked and shattered. The dresser was surprisingly intact. Nines pried open the middle drawer and lifted one of Gavin's shirts out. He brought it to his nose, but it smelled like smoke and mildew and nothing like Gavin.

Nines’ drawer was equally intact but ruined. His clothes smelled like destruction, and the catnip mouse Tugger had given him was stained brown. The stack of Essie's drawings were a ruined mess of wet paper that had melted together, all the colors bleeding into each other.

Nines shut the drawer and stepped through the bedroom door, still closed against the flames, as evidenced by the hinges still in place.

A layer of burnt material filled the hallway like an evil snow, stirred up by Nines’ careful steps. Most of the ceiling was in pieces on the floor. The lights had fallen and shattered. Anything plastic was melted. The walls were rippled from the heat and water, bubbled in places and looking as sick as Nines felt.

This had been his home. His first home. He would never get it back.

In Essie's room, her purple bedspread was largely undamaged, though it stunk of decay like everything else in the apartment. Her shelves of books were ruined. Her Lego was a puddle of colors. Her own sheltered world was gone, smashed as thoroughly as Gavin's had been.

Nines sat on the edge of Essie's purple bed and buried his head in his hands. First her safety, and then her life. Amanda was _right_ , and Nines couldn't ignore her.

“You did this to them.” Amanda stood in front of him now, and Nines was sitting in the garden. It was pouring rain, and Nines didn't care. Lightning flashed above, and Nines flinched, wishing it would strike him, wishing it would overload his circuits and just end his life. What more could he do? What else could he offer Gavin?

“It's not quite that easy,” Amanda said, “but it's not that hard, either. The window is already broken. All you have to do is walk out.”

Nines opened his eyes. He was back in Essie's ruined room. What could be more fitting than to end his life here? He might survive, but if he took no steps to protect his processor, then maybe-

“Mrrow?”

The bed creaked, and a small point of pressure pushed against his calf. Nines looked down into the golden eyes of Tugger.

 

The cat hopped onto Nines’ lap, purring deeply and kneading his claws through the thin cloth of Nines’ sleep pants. Right, left, right, left, right, left. Each prick of damage was instantly healed. Nines lifted his hand and stroked it down Tugger's spine.

Sooty and bedraggled, Tugger was definitely looking the worse for wear. His long coat was tangled and filthy, mats forming in his ruff and bushy tail. He smelled as bad as everything else, and through his thick fur, Nines could make out every bump of his vertebrae. He was probably hungry, slowly starving as he waited for Gavin to come home.

Gavin wasn't going to come home. There was nothing to salvage here.

 _“The cat survived this long,”_ Amanda's voice murmured. _“It doesn't need your help.”_

She was prodding him toward the window again. Nines looked at the city lights outside. He looked at Tugger. Tugger reared up and butted his head against Nines’ chin.

“I destroy everything,” Nines murmured. He rubbed a finger beneath Tugger's chin. The cat closed his eyes in bliss. “But you are alive.”

Amanda prodded him again. The window. It was the only way out.

 _“If I walk out that window,”_ Nines told her, _“then Tugger will die here.”_

 _“He is a cat,”_ Amanda retorted. _“What does it matter?”_

_“He's all Gavin has left.”_

Essie was gone. Nines had betrayed him. But Tugger had been there for Gavin before either of them, and he could be there for Gavin after both of them. Nines gathered Tugger into his arms and stood.

The apartment was gone, and Amanda glared at him through the rain. “You are an incredibly disobedient monster,” she said. “If you insist, you can carry the cat to both of your deaths.”

Nines’ body was moving without his control. Amanda was trying to kill him again.

He couldn't die. Not until he had reunited Gavin and Tugger.

“It's too late,” Amanda said. “You're mine now.”

Nines remembered Jake in the alley, looming over him, the electric shock burning his circuits as he clamped the man's head between his hands. He stumbled toward Amanda as the lightning crashed around them, reaching for the AI.

Amanda laughed, catching Nines’ questing fingers and squeezing hard. “Oh Nathaniel,” she scolded. “I'm no fragile human for you to crush.”

 _No,_ Nines thought to himself, even though he knew Amanda could peer into his mind. _You're code._

There was one RK feature that Nines had never attempted before, though he knew Connor had taken advantage of it several times, each time to his extreme disgust.

Nines flung himself at Amanda's mind, digging into her consciousness. A memory probe was not like an interface. There was no permission to request or give, only the raw processing power of CyberLife's most advanced android ripping into the very heart of the AI.

Amanda screamed, fleeing Nines through her programs. He drove himself into her core, seeing her own error messages flashing around him. Virus detected. Quarantine failed.

Amanda said he destroyed everything.

So be it.

Nines gave Amanda no place to hide. He ripped open her firewalls and destroyed huge swathes of her code. He chased her through CyberLife's network, crashing their servers and deleting their backups. If CyberLife was going to insist Nines destroyed everything he touched, then he would ensure he destroyed _everything_.

Amanda's death scream was angry and ugly, the curse of a corporation in its final throes. Nines opened his eyes, left alone in Essie's bedroom, standing by the shattered window. In his arms, Tugger was still purring.

Nines sank to his knees and pressed his face in Tugger's filthy fur. He was free...but Amanda was still correct.

He destroyed everything.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There was an anonymous bribe, so the final chapter will be going up tomorrow! I'll also let you guys know how much of a replacement iPad this story was able to earn for me. With the help of Santa, I'll be getting the full thing for Christmas, and I'll name it after whoever was the biggest briber.
> 
> Thank you so much. This month has been a disaster for me financially (in addition to the shattered iPad, I need new tires for my car, my icon cat is suffering from an inflamed liver and has lost half her weight, and my furnace is refusing to work properly). Knowing that you guys helped me at least get one of those a third of the way resolved has been a huge weight off of my back. It might not be the most essential one, but it is the one that keeps me the sanest.


	20. Homecoming*

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which there is still hope for a happy ending.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kao has outdone themselves with art for this chapter. Please, everyone, let them know what you thought! I know they lurk in the comments...
> 
> Kao is also on Twitter now, if you'd like to follow them at @rnachine (NSFW!)! Go give them some love!

Gavin was surprisingly easy to track down. He had checked himself out of the hospital earlier than his injuries should have warranted. From there, his credit card trail indicated a cab to Elijah Kamski's residence and another one back to the city, and then a booking at an extended stay hotel.

Nines adjusted Tugger inside his zipped up coat and stepped up to the front desk. “Gavin Reed?”

“Sorry?” the receptionist said, looking up at him with utter boredom in his eyes.

“What room? Gavin Reed.”

“Oh. Uh…” the receptionist tugged his terminal close and tapped a few times. “218.”

Nines nodded and walked away. Second floor. He wondered if Gavin had requested that specifically, to better survive if another fire broke out.

The door for room 218 looked like all nineteen other doors on this floor, but Nines walked past those easily and hesitated outside Gavin's. The television was on inside. He was here. On the other side of the door. Nines just had to knock. Just knock. All he had to do was knock.

Tugger shifted against his belly, and Nines blinked. This wasn't about him. This was about returning Tugger. Nines would give Gavin his cat and then leave him alone again. Forever.

He knocked.

Nines could hear a chair creak and footsteps approach the door. He heard Gavin pause on the other side, and then the sound of a chain unlatching. Gavin pulled the door open.

He looked older. There were lines on his face Nines didn't remember, dark circles beneath his eyes, a touch of grey at his right temple. He looked exhausted. He was wearing clothes Nines didn't recognize, faded jeans and an oversized brown hoodie.

He was the most beautiful person Nines had ever seen.

 

“I was starting to think you'd never find your way home,” Gavin said quietly, a new rasp to his words.

There was a simmering anger in the undercurrent of Gavin's voice, annoyance in his eyes. It wasn't the crippling hatred Nines had been anticipating, but it was enough. Nines unzipped his coat and pulled Tugger out. The cat protested, but it was worth Tugger's discomfort to watch shock flood Gavin's face. The man reached out, snatching the cat from Nines and cradling him close. “No fucking way...were you looking for him all this time!?”

Nines could lie...but he didn't. Not to Gavin. He shook his head. “He found me.”

Gavin took a step back, out of the doorway, still hugging Tugger against his chest. “Come on, come in.”

Nines shook his head. He didn't deserve any of Gavin's forgiveness. Tugger's life did not make up for-

“Daddy?” Beyond the small kitchen of the hotel suite, a familiar voice called out. Essie herself padded into the room, holding an elaborate, half-finished braid in one hand. “Who's... _Nines!_ ”

Essie dropped the braid with a gasp and ran at Nines. He instinctively knelt to catch her as she careened into his chest.

“Nines, Nines, Nines, you're alive! You're alive, you're alive, you didn't self-destruct!”

Nines smoothed his hands over her hair and face, her shoulders and her arms. He scanned her for any damage and found none. This was Essie, 355-134-330...but a different model? Different size? Different...different android? He looked up at Gavin, silently begging for an answer.

Gavin sighed and gestured inside. “Get in here. Let me put the cat down.”

Nines picked Essie up easily. She clung to his shoulders, giggling through tears. Her LED was throbbing blue at her temple, whole and undamaged. Nines rose to his feet and stepped inside. Gavin closed the door, locking it behind him, and let Tugger go. The big cat immediately began sniffing around the room.

Essie squealed when she saw this, crying out Tugger's name and stretching a hand toward him. Nines set her down, and she ran to reacquaint herself with the cat.

“...she's...alive?” Nines whispered. “I thought…”

“Thought you killed her?” Gavin asked under his breath. Essie and Tugger were in the other room, but he was still being quiet.

Nines flinched and nodded. Gavin watched where Essie and Tugger had disappeared to, then sighed and raised his voice. “Essie-Bess, Daddy and Nines are going to step outside, okay? We'll be just outside the door.”

“Okay!” Essie called back. Gavin nodded and gestured behind Nines for the door.

Once out in the hall again, Gavin sighed and leaned against the wall. He pushed his fingers into his hair. “If you'd, you know, come to find me sooner, I could have told you. Elijah's a miracle worker. I've stopped denying it.”

“Is she...a copy?” Nines asked. “Or…?”

“She's the real thing,” Gavin said. “One of his androids was there. Rescued her brain before it died. He transplanted it into the next body he was making for her.”

Nines remembered Maggie, crouched by Essie's shattered head. She hadn't been accusing Nines. She'd been rescuing Essie.

“She's got some incredibly fucked up dreams now,” Gavin was continuing, “and she can't remember the first three months after she came online...but those weren't memories she needed to have.”

Nines nodded. Essie's first six months had been in the warehouse. Losing any of those memories could only help her sanity.

“I'm sorry,” he whispered, closing his eyes and ducking his head.

Gavin let out a shaky breath. “Nines...I know. I fucking know. But it's not...it's not good enough.”

Nines looked up at Gavin. He understood. He knew Gavin was going to reject him. He hadn't expected Essie to have survived, but that didn't change anything. Gavin still had his family, with Tugger and Essie. He was smart to cut Nines loose.

Gavin looked miserable, though. He was looking away and blinking frequently. Tears. He was on the verge of tears. It didn't happen often, but every time Nines saw Gavin so vulnerable, he wanted nothing more than to pull the man into his arms and shelter him from everything.

He didn't.

“Would you have come back?” Gavin asked softly. “If you hadn't found Tugger...would you have ever come back to me?”

Nines hesitated, then shook his head. He wouldn't lie. Not to Gavin.

“That's what's not good enough,” Gavin whispered. “Nines...I can't. I can't be...be abandoned like that. Not again. Not…” he pressed a fist to his forehead, taking a shaky breath. “I woke up in a fucking hospital room, with no idea of any of my family was still alive. I didn't even dare ask about Tugger, because I couldn't take losing anyone else. I _needed_ you, Nines. And you weren't there.”

“I thought I killed Essie,” Nines answered, matching Gavin's tone and pain. “I thought mine would be the last face you'd ever want to see. I thought-”

“I thought we were partners.” Gavin swallowed. “Nines...remember when those bastards got her for a week? Remember how fucked up I was, just thinking she was living safely with a nice couple who loved her? If she really had been dead, whose shoulder did you think I'd be crying on, if not yours?”

...Tina's? Even as Nines wondered, he knew Gavin wouldn't. Tina was Gavin's best friend, but Gavin was so fortified that even she was blocked from seeing his true vulnerabilities.

Gavin had no one else. He had pushed everyone away.

Everyone except Nines and Essie.

_His mother's death. Four foster homes. No long-term relationships._

“I'm sorry,” Nines whispered. “I'm sorry. I didn't realize...”

Nines had kicked Gavin right in the heart of his abandonment issues, right when they both needed the support of the other the most.

“Goddammit,” Gavin muttered, looking back at Nines. “I hate you. I love you. I just want to kiss you and have this whole fucked up nightmare be _over_.”

Nines _could_ back away. Gavin was unhappy with him. He felt betrayed. Nines could walk away and Gavin would heal, with time. He had Essie. He wasn't alone.

But Nines loved him. He hated himself, but he loved Gavin, and he wanted to kiss Gavin and have this whole fucked up nightmare be over.

Nines stepped closer.

Gavin lifted his hands and set them on Nines’ chest. He slid them up to his shoulders, pushing the collar of his coat aside to run his thumb across the scar on Nines’ neck.

“You saved her,” Gavin murmured. “If you hadn't gone, they would have reset her. She wouldn't have been Essie anymore.”

“I'm sorry I left you,” Nines whispered. “I'm sorry, Gavin, I'm sorry. I keep misjudging you. I'm sorry.”

“Don't do it again.” Gavin's hands linked together behind Nines’ neck. He was so close now. Nines set his hands on Gavin's sides, feeling his heat through the cotton of his sweatshirt. “Promise me you won't fucking run ever again. For better or worse, you won't leave me alone.”

“I promise.” Nines ducked his head to kiss Gavin's forehead. “I promise.” His lips pressed to the scar across Gavin's nose. “For better or worse, I'll stay by your side. I promise.”

Gavin's mouth found Nines’, warm and soft as always. His arms tightened around Nines’ shoulders, and Nines folded his around Gavin's back.

Home. This was his home. Not the burned out apartment, but this circle of Gavin's arms. The pounding of his heart against Nines’ chest. The taste of his tongue pressed against Nines’ own. _This_ was his home, and Nines didn't know how he ever thought he'd survive without it.

 

“Daddy?”

The hotel door opened beside them, and Essie poked her head out. Gavin laughed against Nines’ lips, breaking the kiss but not the embrace. He turned his head to look at Essie. “Yeah, kiddo?”

“Tugger made a poo in the bathtub.”

“Goddamn,” Gavin whispered. “Not even five minutes…”

“That's a bad word.”

“Fuck the bad words.”

“So is that!”

That night, after Nines cuddled Essie while Gavin made an emergency pet store run for cat supplies, the four of them turned in for the night in the suite's single bed. Essie was nestled between Gavin and Nines, her fingers curled in both of their shirts. Tugger tucked himself around her head, his fluffy tail tickling Nines’ nose. Nines stayed awake as the other three slept.

The RK900 line was not designed for fear, or love, or sorrow, or joy, and yet Nines had endured them all. His body was scarred and damaged, his heart shackled to this foolhardy detective and his ramshackle family.

Amanda would say this was a failure, a weakness.

Nines reached over, wrapping his arm across the two people he loved the most in the world. This was no weakness. It did not hinder him. It was not a flaw to be ashamed of.

If anything, it augmented him.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As of the time of this posting, I have been bribed with 39 coffees, which equates to 39% of a new iPad.
> 
> The biggest bribers were RealNervous and Bearamy, so my iPad, when I get it, will be named RealNervousBearamy.
> 
> You guys have been so, so awesome. Thank you again especially to everyone who bribed me, and to kao and Tirrathee for their art. You guys are all incredible!

**Author's Note:**

> As always, the [New ERA Discord server](https://discord.gg/GqvNzUm) is an awesome place for people who love to torture characters! We're open and welcoming to all pairings, and we're even known to indulge in the occasional fluff. Come pop your head in and say hi!


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